php like print_r function.

print_r.lua

-- from http://lua-users.org/wiki/TableSerialization

function print_r (t, name, indent)
  local tableList = {}
  function table_r (t, name, indent, full)
    local serial=string.len(full) == 0 and name
        or type(name)~="number" and '["'..tostring(name)..'"]' or '['..name..']'
    io.write(indent,serial,' = ') 
    if type(t) == "table" then
      if tableList[t] ~= nil then io.write('{}; -- ',tableList[t],' (self reference)\n')
      else
        tableList[t]=full..serial
        if next(t) then -- Table not empty
          io.write('{\n')
          for key,value in pairs(t) do table_r(value,key,indent..'\t',full..serial) end 
          io.write(indent,'};\n')
        else io.write('{};\n') end
      end
    else io.write(type(t)~="number" and type(t)~="boolean" and '"'..tostring(t)..'"'
                  or tostring(t),';\n') end
  end
  table_r(t,name or '__unnamed__',indent or '','')
end