Actionscript 3 equivalent of PHP's print_r

Here's a handy little function for easing the development process with Actionscript 3 in Flex and Flash: an equivalent of PHP's recursive print function print_r, which displays objects and arrays in a way that's readable by humans.

Update March 22, 2010: An update of this function has been released.

Code for Flex:

import mx.controls.Alert;
 
public function pr(obj:*, level:int = 0, output:String = ""):* {
    var tabs:String = "";
    for(var i:int = 0; i < level; i++, tabs += "\t");
   
    for(var child:* in obj){
            output += tabs +"["+ child +"] => "+ obj[child];
           
            var childOutput:String = pr(obj[child], level+1);
            if(childOutput != '') output += ' {\n'+ childOutput + tabs +'}';
           
            output += "\n";
    }
   
    if(level == 0) Alert.show(output);
    else return output;
}

public function test():void {
    var obj:Object = new Object();
    obj.var1 = "test";
    obj.var2 = { var2a: "a", var2b: 10 }
    pr(obj);
    pr([ "a", "b", "c" ]);
}

Code for Flash:

function pr(obj:*, level:int = 0, output:String = ""):* {
    var tabs:String = "";
    for(var i:int = 0; i < level; i++, tabs += "\t");
    
    for(var child:* in obj) {
        output += tabs +"["+ child +"] => "+ obj[child];
        
        var childOutput:String = pr(obj[child], level+1);
        if(childOutput != '') output += ' {\n'+ childOutput + tabs +'}';
        
        output += "\n";
    }
    
    if(level == 0) trace(output);
    else return output;
 }
  
 //Test
 var obj:Object = new Object();
 obj.var1 = "test";
 obj.var2 = { var2a: "a", var2b: 10 }
  
 pr(obj);
 pr([ "a", "b", "c" ]);

Both tests will display:

[var1] => test
[var2] => [object Object] {
    [var2b] => 10
    [var2a] => a
 }
 
[0] => a
[1] => b
[2] => c

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