"print() debugging" in over 300 languages

July 15, 2022 — Paul Graham—creator of Arc and Bel—started an interesting thread last month about "print() debugging".

Both experts and beginners frequently use "print() debugging".

Support for "print() debugging" is near-universal in high level programming languages. Implementations vary.

Different languages use different commands. There are a few popular patterns. Many languages have a simple global keyword like print or echo or puts. Many others don't use the global namespace and you "print() debug" via a call like console.log. Many provide multiple keywords, such as print and println—the latter a shortcut for printing a string followed by a \n.

There is also a long tail distribution of how languages let you do it. Some have special syntactic sugar, such as the code golf esolang 05AB1E ("hello world).

Below is a table of over 100 keyword(s) used to "print() debug" in over 300 languages.

You may notice there is a lack of representation of assembly languages in this list. It is often much harder to "print() debug" in low level languages than simply writing print.

Keyword	Languages	Count
print	Python R Perl Swift Fortran Lua Dart awk PostScript SPSS Emacs Lisp Standard ML REBOL Logo Boo Io IDL Hy NewLisp Squirrel Ceylon Factor MoonScript Maxima SETL Dafny Coconut Terra Genie ALGOL 68 RATFOR Gosu Ante Jython SIL Cobra Yorick BeanShell Nit starlark Fennel Angelscript F MAXScript pyret GDScript ArkScript dyvil ProvideX Project MAC’s SYmbolic MAnipulator Locomotive BASIC Bython zenscript owen-lang A++ toy-lang Pawn SdlBasic Action Code Script QCL Battlestar Claro verve	63
println	Scala Clojure Julia Kotlin Groovy V ClojureScript Ioke E Koka Scala.js carp ooc Fancy Felix Golo Frink clay Jakt Nice Vale Picat Caché Basic Afnix	24
printf	C Objective-C D Maple GNU Octave CUDA Cyclone DTrace Volt zz Interactive C Interpreter muon Qore Yoix Algae Y Nymph silk Promela	19
echo	PHP PowerShell Bash Nim fish J Hack Fantom Batchfile Korn shell Z shell Tea tcsh Vim script C shell MIRC scripting language	16
PRINT	Lisp BASIC Common Lisp QBasic GFA BASIC BBC BASIC Applesoft BASIC BlooP Xbasic baysick ALGO Cesil	12
write	Prolog VHDL Icon Pike Unicon JADE Nial ALGOL W S-algol Logtalk GAML	11
Print	Mathematica Xojo Wolfram Language ISWIM LotusScript JAI AMOS Basic-256 Blitz3D holyc	10
console.log	JavaScript TypeScript CoffeeScript Node.js Deno LiveScript roy cor	8
puts	Ruby Tcl Crystal Monkey Euphoria Nu XOTcl	7
writeln	Pascal Chapel Seed7 XL Zonnon Draco	6
System.out.println	Java AspectJ Pizza concurnas	4
Console.WriteLine	C# Visual Basic Oxygene BEEF	4
say	Rexx NetRexx kitten Raku	4
putStrLn	Haskell Idris Agda	3
print_string	OCaml Reason skip	3
WRITE	ALGOL 60 ABC Karel	3
disp	MATLAB Scilab	2
DISPLAY	COBOL CobolScript	2
display	Scheme Racket	2
printfn	F# Fable	2
stdout.print	Zig Wyvern	2
Out.String	Oberon Oberon-2	2
put	HyperTalk Turing	2
std::cout	C++	1
fmt.Println	Go	1
println!	Rust	1
io:format	Erlang	1
Text_IO.Put_Line	Ada	1
displayNl	Smalltalk	1
IO.puts	Elixir	1
WriteLn	Delphi	1
$display	Verilog	1
WriteString	Modula-2	1
w	MUMPS	1
WRITES	BCPL	1
OutText	Simula	1
dbms_output.put_line	PL/SQL	1
printLine	Self	1
display dialog	Applescript	1
Serial.println	Arduino	1
stdout.printf	Vala	1
trace	ActionScript	1
Response.Write	ASP	1
IO.print	Wren	1
OUTPUT	SNOBOL	1
MsgBox	AutoIt	1
call void [mscorlib]System.Console::WriteLine	CIL	1
sys->print	Limbo	1
write.full.string	Occam	1
io:println	Ballerina	1
prn	Arc	1
System.Console.WriteLine	Nemerle	1
postln	SuperCollider	1
jlog	Opa	1
io.write_string	Mercury	1
PrintN	PureBasic	1
cfoutput	ColdFusion	1
Console.OUT.println	X10	1
FStar.IO.print_string	F*	1
print_endline	Caml	1
putchar	B	1
WScript.Echo	JScript	1
stream$putl	CLU	1
answer	LiveCode	1
#OUT	Sather	1
#print	Lean	1
draw_text	GML	1
Stdout	Miranda	1
crLog	Pharo	1
console.loge	Dogescript	1
System.Console.Write	J#	1
env.out.print	Pony	1
MessageBox	PowerBuilder	1
standard-output	ISLISP	1
document.write	Objective-J	1
out_string	Classroom Object Oriented Language	1
Scream	Rockstar	1
System.print	gravity	1
write-line	CLISP	1
	Refal	1
fmt.println	odin	1
.print	Lisaac	1
$print	Neko	1
WriteF	Amiga E	1
PrintLn	eC	1
output:	Rapira	1
$console:line	Parser 3	1
PRINTF	Action!	1
hodor.hod	Hodor	1
player:tell	MOO	1
bprint	QuakeC	1
Show	OX	1
io::println	Whiley	1
pr	Shen	1
SysLib.writeStdout	EGL	1
traceln	monte	1
message	Uniface	1
Logger.log	Google Apps Script	1
ксива.малява	YoptaScript	1
Message	1C Enterprise Script	1
Write	Caché ObjectScript	1
escribir	latino	1
Qout	XBase++	1
TextOut	Not eXactly C	1
writeLine	elena	1
Println	Orc	1
Text	XPL0	1
IO.write	Zimbu	1
Console.println	Ferite	1
stdout.putString	Emerald	1
System.puts	Virgil	1
Console.printLine	Frost	1
_printf	ceu	1
IO.Println	parasail	1
Js.log	Rescript	1
fmt::println	Hare	1
output	quorum	1

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