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debugger: a little bit of doc
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ry committed Dec 31, 2010
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1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions doc/api/_toc.markdown
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* [Assertion Testing](assert.html)
* [TTY](tty.html)
* [OS](os.html)
* [Debugger](debugger.html)
* Appendixes
* [Appendix 1: Recommended Third-party Modules](appendix_1.html)
* [Appendix 2: Deprecated API's](appendix_2.html)
1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions doc/api/all.markdown
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@include assert
@include tty
@include os
@include debugger

# Appendixes
@include appendix_1
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73 changes: 73 additions & 0 deletions doc/api/debugger.markdown
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## Debugger

V8 comes with an extensive debugger which is accessable out-of-process via a
simple [TCP protocol](http://code.google.com/p/v8/wiki/DebuggerProtocol).
Node has a built-in client for this debugger. To use this, start Node with the
`debug` argument; a prompt will appear:

% node debug myscript.js
debug>

At this point `myscript.js` is not yet running. To start the script, enter
the command `run`. If everything works okay, the output should look like
this:

% node debug myscript.js
debug> run
debugger listening on port 5858
connecting...ok

Node's debugger client doesn't support the full range of commands, but
simple step and inspection is possible. By putting the statement `debugger;`
into the source code of your script, you will enable a breakpoint.

For example, suppose `myscript.js` looked like this:

// myscript.js
x = 5;
setTimeout(function () {
debugger;
console.log("world");
}, 1000);
console.log("hello");

Then once the debugger is run, it will break on line 4.

% ./node debug myscript.js
debug> run
debugger listening on port 5858
connecting...ok
hello
break in #<an Object>._onTimeout(), myscript.js:4
debugger;
^
debug> next
break in #<an Object>._onTimeout(), myscript.js:5
console.log("world");
^
debug> print x
5
debug> print 2+2
4
debug> next
world
break in #<an Object>._onTimeout() returning undefined, myscript.js:6
}, 1000);
^
debug> quit
A debugging session is active. Quit anyway? (y or n) y
%


The `print` command allows you to evaluate variables. The `next` command steps
over to the next line. There are a few other commands available and more to
come type `help` to see others.


### Advanced Usage

The V8 debugger can be enabled and accessed either by starting Node with
the `--debug` command-line flag or by signaling an existing Node process
with `SIGUSR1`.


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