Default options for IO.inspect?

Questions / Help
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1

What is the preferred way to provide default options for IO.inspect? I am reading about Inspect.Opts but I can’t find a concrete example how to use it for existing things.

Also is there any way to add a file, something like the .iex.exs file with default options for the IO.inspect to pick up and use them?

My specific problem is that I would like to have colorized output for the inspected terms but I don’t want to add the options every time I call IO.inspect. I would prefer to create a file once and use it in every project.

I did create a ~/.iex.exs with this content for testing

IEx.configure(
  colors: [
    syntax_colors: [
      number: :light_yellow,
      atom: :light_cyan,
      string: :light_black,
      boolean: :red,
      nil: [:magenta, :bright]
    ],
    ls_directory: :cyan,
    ls_device: :yellow,
    doc_code: :green,
    doc_inline_code: :magenta,
    doc_headings: [:cyan, :underline],
    doc_title: [:cyan, :bright, :underline]
  ]
)

(taken from here)

but this has effect only in iex. When I run dev or test the output is still white on black.

2

I skimmed the code related to the inspect protocol and I can not find a way to set global defaults. You need to pass them explicitly all the time.

2 Likes
3

Thanks. I was googling for hours and thinking maybe there was a way documented somewhere and I somehow I couldn’t find it. It seems it isn’t so.

4

I would probably create a little helper module that you include in your projects, you could call it something short like I or IOP. Or I would create a snippet in my editor that includes the extra parameters I want to pass to IO.inspect

3 Likes
5

I’d be inclined to go with the helper module because if you ever need to change the ‘defaults’ you only need to edit the code in one place… the helper module.

4 Likes