The output of JSON.stringify comes in two flavors: compact and pretty. The former is usually too compact to be read by humans, while the latter sometimes is too spacious. This module trades performance for a compromise between the two. The result is a pretty compact string, where “pretty” means both “kind of” and “nice”.

{
  "bool": true,
  "short array": [1, 2, 3],
  "long array": [
    {"x": 1, "y": 2},
    {"x": 2, "y": 1},
    {"x": 1, "y": 1},
    {"x": 2, "y": 2}
  ]
}

While the “pretty” mode of JSON.stringify puts every item of arrays and objects on its own line, this module puts the whole array or object on a single line, unless the line becomes too long (the default maximum is 80 characters). Making arrays and objects multi-line is the only attempt made to enforce the maximum line length; if that doesn’t help then so be it.

npm install json-stringify-pretty-compact

import stringify from "json-stringify-pretty-compact";

Note: This is an ESM only package. (I haven’t written that gist, but it’s a great resource.)

If you need CommonJS, install version 3.0.0. You won’t be missing out on anything: This package is done. No more features will be added, and no bugs have been found in years.

Want a CLI? Check out avantgardnerio/json-stringify-pretty-compact-cli!

Web version? Check out the online demo!

It’s like JSON.stringify(obj, options.replacer, options.indent), except that objects and arrays are on one line if they fit (according to options.maxLength).

options:

• indent: Defaults to 2. Works exactly like the third parameter of JSON.stringify.
• maxLength: Defaults to 80. Lines will be tried to be kept at maximum this many characters long.
• replacer: Defaults to undefined. Works exactly like the second parameter of JSON.stringify.

stringify(obj, {maxLength: 0, indent: indent}) gives the exact same result as JSON.stringify(obj, null, indent). (However, if you use a replacer, integer keys might be moved first.)

stringify(obj, {maxLength: Infinity}) gives the exact same result as JSON.stringify(obj), except that there are spaces after colons and commas.

Want more options? Check out @aitodotai/json-stringify-pretty-compact!

MIT.