# How to debug a varible/collection/array

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-debug-a-varible-collection-array/114331>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [September 11, 2007, 1:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-debug-a-varible-collection-array/114331 "2007-09-11T13:37:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SMARTEGURU](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SMARTEGURU](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/SMARTEGURU)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2007, 1:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-debug-a-varible-collection-array/114331/1 "2007-09-11T13:37:28Z")

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Hi,

is there any function in ruby like print\_r in php.

i want to debug variable/collection/session array in browser.

if i use puts it give nothing

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SMARTEGURU](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SMARTEGURU](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/SMARTEGURU)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-debug-a-varible-collection-array/114331/2 "2007-09-11T14:08:31Z")

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On Sep 11, 7:36 am, SMARTEGURU [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> is there any function in ruby like print\_r in php.

to\_yaml (as in myArray.to\_yaml) works for most needs.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SMARTEGURU](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SMARTEGURU](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/SMARTEGURU)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-debug-a-varible-collection-array/114331/3 "2007-09-11T14:37:37Z")

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it does not print anything in browser  
i am using it like:  
@job.to\_yaml  
session.to\_yaml  
in rhtml

what to do ☹

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SMARTEGURU](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SMARTEGURU](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/SMARTEGURU)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-to-debug-a-varible-collection-array/114331/4 "2007-09-11T15:09:40Z")

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On Sep 11, 2007, at 8:25 AM, SMARTEGURU wrote:

> it does not print anything in browser  
> i am using it like:  
> @job.to\_yaml  
> session.to\_yaml  
> in rhtml
> 
> what to do ☹

Try this in your view.

\<%= @job.to\_yaml %\>  
\<%= session.to\_yaml %\>

Or use the logger from the controller (my favorite approach) like this

logger.debug @job.to\_yaml

Then just check the development log for the YAML version of the array.

-Paul