Detecting and fixing circular references in JavaScript

Question

Given I have a circular reference in a large JavaScript object

And I try JSON.stringify(problematicObject)

And the browser throws

Answer 1

Try using console.log() on the chrome/firefox browser to identify where the issue encountered.

On Firefox using Firebug plugin, you can debug your javascript line by line.

Update:

Refer below example of circular reference issue and which has been handled:-

// JSON.stringify, avoid TypeError: Converting circular structure to JSON
// Demo: Circular reference
var o = {};
o.o = o;

var cache = [];
JSON.stringify(o, function(key, value) {
    if (typeof value === 'object' && value !== null) {
        if (cache.indexOf(value) !== -1) {
            // Circular reference found, discard key
            alert("Circular reference found, discard key");
            return;
        }
        alert("value = '" + value + "'");
        // Store value in our collection
        cache.push(value);
    }
    return value;
});
cache = null; // Enable garbage collection

var a = {b:1};
var o = {};
o.one = a;
o.two = a;
// one and two point to the same object, but two is discarded:
JSON.stringify(o);

var obj = {
  a: "foo",
  b: obj
};

var replacement = {"b":undefined};

alert("Result : " + JSON.stringify(obj,replacement));

Refer example LIVE DEMO