lua_vardump

function vardump(value, depth, key)
     local linePrefix = ""
     local spaces = ""
     if key ~= nil then
         linePrefix = "["..key.."] = "
     end
     if depth == nil then
         depth = 0
     else
         depth = depth + 1
         for i=1, depth do spaces = spaces .. " " end
     end
     if type(value) == 'table' then
         mTable = getmetatable(value)
         if mTable == nil then
             print(spaces ..linePrefix.."(table) ")
         else
             print(spaces .."(metatable) ")
             value = mTable
         end
         for tableKey, tableValue in pairs(value) do
             vardump(tableValue, depth, tableKey)
         end
     elseif type(value) == 'function'
             or type(value) == 'thread'
             or type(value) == 'userdata'
             or value == nil
     then
         print(spaces..tostring(value))
     else
         print(spaces..linePrefix.."("..type(value)..") "..tostring(value))
     end
 end
 
 --use this to get a log to console or save to file ,no print
 function GetVarDump(value, depth, key)
     local indentSymbol ="\t"
     local contentStr = ""
     local addContent=function(str ,makeNewLine)
         if str~=nil and str ~='' then
             contentStr =string.format('%s%s', contentStr,tostring(str))
         end
     end

     local linePrefix = ""
     local indent = ""
     if key ~= nil then
         linePrefix = key.." = "
     end
     if depth == nil then
         depth = 0
     else
         depth = depth + 1
         for i=1, depth do indent = indent .. indentSymbol end
     end
     if type(value) == 'table' then
          local mTable = getmetatable(value)
         if mTable == nil then
             addContent(string.format('%s%s(table)\n%s{',indent ,linePrefix,indent,indent))
         else
             addContent(indent .."(metatable) ")
             value = mTable
         end
         for tableKey, tableValue in pairs(value) do
             local content  = GetVarDump(tableValue, depth, tableKey)
             addContent('\n'..content)
         end
         addContent('\n'..indent ..'}')
     elseif type(value) == 'function' or type(value) == 'thread' or type(value) == 'userdata'  or value == nil     then
         addContent(indent..tostring(value))
     else
         addContent(indent..linePrefix..tostring(value).." ("..type(value)..") ")
     end
     return contentStr
 end