Humanize Anything

Convert any value to a short, human-readable string

Features

• Safely show user input values in messages and logs

• Differentiates between null, undefined, and NaN

• Includes the contents of small objects and arrays

• Returns names of functions and classes — even async functions, generators, etc.

• Keeps humanized value within your specified length limit

Installation

You can install Humanize Anything via npm.

npm install @jsdevtools/humanize-anything

Usage

humanize(value, [options])

Convert any value to a short, human-readable string. It will try to humanize the actual value, if it’s short enough; otherwise, it will humanize the type name.

• value - The value to humanize
• options - Optional options object

import humanize from "@jsdevtools/humanize-anything";

humanize(123);                       // '123'
humanize(NaN);                       // 'NaN'
humanize(null);                      // 'null'
humanize("Hello");                   // '"Hello"'  (with quotes)
humanize(/^regex$/);                 // '/^regex$/'
humanize({ x: 1, y: 2 });            // '{x, y}'
humanize([1, 2, 3, 4]);              // '[1,2,3,4]'
humanize(new RangeError());          // 'RangeError'

humanize.values(values, [options])

Returns a list of values as an oxford-comma separated string. Can be configured to use “and”, “or”, or a custom conjuction.

• values - An array of values to humanize
• options - Optional options object

import humanize from "@jsdevtools/humanize-anything";

humanize.values([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]);          // '1, 2, 3, 4, and 5'
humanize.values([NaN, null, undefined]);   // 'NaN, null, and undefined'
humanize.values([true, false]);            // 'true and false'
humanize.values(["Fred", "Wilma"]);        // '"Fred" and "Wilma"'  (with quotes)

humanize.list(strings, [options])

This is similar to humanize.values() above, but expects the values to already be strings. It doesn’t do any humanization logic. It just concatenates the strings into an oxford-comma separated list

• strings - An array of strings to be joined into a list
• options - Optional options object

import humanize from "@jsdevtools/humanize-anything";

humanize.list(["Fred", "Wilma"]);          // 'Fred and Wilma'
humanize.list(["one", "two", "three"]);    // 'one, two, and three'

humanize.type(value)

Returns the type name of the given value. This may be a primitive type or a class name.

import humanize from "@jsdevtools/humanize-anything";

humanize.type(123);                       // 'number'
humanize.type(NaN);                       // 'NaN'
humanize.type(null);                      // 'null'
humanize.type("Hello");                   // 'string'
humanize.type(/^regex$/);                 // 'RegExp'
humanize.type({ x: 1, y: 2 });            // 'Object'
humanize.type([1, 2, 3, 4]);              // 'Array'
humanize.type(new RangeError());          // 'RangeError'

humanize.class(value)

Returns the class name of the given value.

import humanize from "@jsdevtools/humanize-anything";

humanize.class(123);                       // 'Number'
humanize.class(NaN);                       // 'Number'
humanize.class(null);                      // 'Null'
humanize.class("Hello");                   // 'String'
humanize.class(/^regex$/);                 // 'RegExp'
humanize.class({ x: 1, y: 2 });            // 'Object'
humanize.class([1, 2, 3, 4]);              // 'Array'
humanize.class(new RangeError());          // 'RangeError'

humanize.function(fn)

Returns the name of the given function. This works with any type of function, including async, generators, classes, etc. If the function doesn’t have a name, then an empty string is returned.

import humanize from "@jsdevtools/humanize-anything";

humanize.function(function myFunction() {});                 // 'myFunction'
humanize.function(async function myAsyncFunction() {});      // 'myAsyncFunction'
humanize.function(function* myGenerator() {});               // 'myGenerator'
humanize.function(async function* myAsyncGenerator() {});    // 'myAsyncGenerator'
humanize.function(() => true);                               // ''
humanize.function(async () => true);                         // ''
humanize.function(class Foo {});                             // 'Foo'
humanize.function(Object);                                   // 'Object'
humanize.function(Object.toString);                          // 'toString'

Options

The humanize(), humanize.values(), and humanize.list() functions accept an optional options object. The object can have any of these properties:

Option	Type	Default	Description
maxLength	number	25	The maximum length of a humanized value before it is shortened or truncated
capitalize	boolean	false	Indicates whether the value string should be capitalized if applicable (e.g. “Number” instead of “number”).
article	boolean	false	Indicates whether the value string should be prefixed with an article if applicable (e.g. “an object” instead of “object”).
conjunction	string or false	“and”	The string used to join a list of values when calling humanize.values() or humanize.list(). This is usually either “and” or “or”. Setting it to false will omit the conjunction.

Contributing

Contributions, enhancements, and bug-fixes are welcome! Open an issue on GitHub and submit a pull request.

Building

To build the project locally on your computer:

1. Clone this repo
   
   git clone https://github.com/JS-DevTools/humanize-anything.git

2. Install dependencies
   
   npm install

3. Build the code
   
   npm run build

4. Run the tests
   
   npm test

License

Humanize Anything is 100% free and open-source, under the MIT license. Use it however you want.

This package is Treeware. If you use it in production, then we ask that you buy the world a tree to thank us for our work. By contributing to the Treeware forest you’ll be creating employment for local families and restoring wildlife habitats.

Big Thanks To

Thanks to these awesome companies for their support of Open Source developers ❤