Node.js Console Complete Reference

Last Updated : 3 Jun, 2026

The console module in Node.js is a built-in utility used for logging, debugging, monitoring, and troubleshooting applications through terminal output. It provides a simple debugging console similar to JavaScript browser consoles and supports displaying different levels of messages.

  • Browser Difference: In Node.js, console output is shown in the terminal or command line instead of the browser developer console.
  • Global Object: The console object is globally available, so it can be used directly without importing it using require().
  • Message Levels: Supports different types of messages such as normal logs, errors, warnings, and traces.

Node.js Console Methods

The Console Module in Node.js provides a variety of methods that help in outputting information to the console:

Basic Logging:

Used for displaying general messages and errors in the terminal for debugging and monitoring applications.

  • console.log()
  • console.error()

Formatting and Output:

Provides different message types and formatting options to organize console output more clearly.

  • console.info()
  • console.warn()
  • console.debug()

Advanced Features:

Offers specialized debugging and performance tools for tracing execution, measuring time, and displaying structured data.

  • console.table()
  • console.trace()
  • console.time()
  • console.timeEnd()

Customizing Console Output:

Helps inspect objects and validate conditions with more controlled and detailed console behavior.

  • console.assert()
  • console.dir()

Example:

JavaScript 
// Node.js program to demonstrate the
// console.trace() method

// Accessing console module
const console = require('console');

// Calling console.trace() method
console.trace("stack teace sample");

console.trace("stack trace sample with args: %d", 39);

Output:

Trace: stack trace sample
at Object.<anonymous> (C:\nodejs\g\console\console_trace.js:7:9)
at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:776:30)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:787:10)
at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:653:32)
at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:593:12)
at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:585:3)

Trace: stack trace sample with args: 39
at Object.<anonymous> (C:\nodejs\g\console\console_trace.js:9:9)
at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:776:30)
at Object.Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:787:10)
at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:653:32)
at tryModuleLoad (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:593:12)
at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:585:3)

The complete list of NodeJS Console are listed below:

Node.js Console Methods

Description

console.assert() Checks whether value is truthy. If it is falsy or omitted, it writes an assertion failure message to the console; otherwise, it does nothing.
console.clear() The console.clear() will work differently across different operating systems and terminal types.
console.count() This  is used to count label passed to it as a parameter, by maintaining an internal counter for that specific label.
console.countReset() This is used to reset the count for the specific label passed to it as a parameter.
console.debug() This is used to print messages to stdout in a newline. Alias of console.log().
console.dir() Prints an object using util.inspect().
console.error()  This is used to display an error messages on the console. It prints to stderr with newline.
console.info() This is used to print messages to stdout in a newline. Alias of console.log().
console.timeLog() Logs the elapsed time for a timer previously started with console.time(), along with any additional data.
console.time()  It is used to starts a timer that is used to compute the time taken by a piece of code or function. 
console.table() It is used to print the table constructed from it’s parameters into the console.
new Console() Constructor Creates a new Console with one or two writable streams.
console.profile() The console.profile() (Added in v8.0.0) method is an inbuilt application programming interface of the ‘console‘ module which doesn’t display anything unless used in the inspector.
console.profileEnd() The console.profileEnd() (Added in v8.0.0) method is an inbuilt application programming interface of the ‘console’ module which does not display anything unless used in the inspector.
console.timeStamp() This is an inbuilt application programming interface of the ‘console‘ module which does not display anything unless used in the inspector.
console.timeEnd()  This method stops a timer that was previously started by using console.time() method and display the result using stdout.
console.trace() Prints a stack trace to stderr, prefixed with 'Trace: '.
console.warn()This is used to display the warning messages on the console. It prints to stderr with newline
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