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GeezerVison is showing developer.mozilla.org — debugger - JavaScript | MDN

debugger

Baseline
Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

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  • Learn more

The debugger statement invokes any available debugging functionality, such as setting a breakpoint. If no debugging functionality is available, this statement has no effect.

Syntax

js
debugger;

Examples

Using the debugger statement

The following example shows code where a debugger statement has been inserted, to invoke a debugger (if one exists) when the function is called.

js
function potentiallyBuggyCode() {
  debugger;
  // do potentially buggy stuff to examine, step through, etc.
}

When the debugger is invoked, execution is paused at the debugger statement. It is like a breakpoint in the script source.

A browser with developer tools open to the debugger panel showing how execution is paused at the debugger statement to allow close inspection of variables, scopes, events, etc.

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript® 2027 Language Specification
# sec-debugger-statement

Browser compatibility

See also

  • The Firefox JavaScript Debugger¶ in the Firefox source docs

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This page was last modified on Jul 8, 2025 by MDN contributors.

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