Rather than trying to read through a sea of text that all looks the same, you can use a library such as chalk to style your logs in the terminal, so that the logs are both meaningful and easier to find.
To do so, install chalk:
npm install chalk
Create a local reference to chalk by requiring it in your project file, then apply a styling to a log like so:
const chalk = require('chalk')
console.log(chalk.green('Success!')
This will produce a styled log that looks something like this:
You could also get really daring by adding additional styling such as:
const chalk = require('chalk')
console.log(chalk.green.bold.inverse('Success!')
If you want to get really fancy with your syntax, you could also replace the method call with a string template:
const chalk = require('chalk')
console.log(chalk.green.bold.inverse`Success!`)
This produces the same results as the previous code but allows for an alternative syntax pattern. I can't say that I love the alternative syntax pattern, but it's an option at least. ;)
Something that's fascinating to me here is both the chaining and dual syntax approach that this library uses. The chaining being that green
chains to bold
which chains to inverse
. It appears that the syntax structure of these calls ultimately allows for indefinite chaining to apply as many supporting styles as you wish. In terms of dual syntax, green
, bold
, and inverse
all act as both an object that can reference other styles, as well as a method that can be invoked using a string.
Congrats! You now have the ability to style your logs in semantic ways. Happy styling. :)