Is it possible to manipulate the return value in the chrome debugger?

Question

Google's Chrome browser has a nice feature which shows you the return value in the debugger before you step out of the function. It shows up in the Scope list in one of the debugger panes along with Watch, Call Stack, etc. It looks like this.

I'm curious if there's console access to this variable?

I frequently have a need to do something like this while debugging:

<return>.filter(function(z) { return z >= 0; })

Or any other arbitrary way to understand whether the return value was what I was expecting. Unfortunately, I can't find a way to refer to <return> in the console. I was hoping there was some variable like $_ that would give me access, but I haven't found look looking in the likely places.

I realize I can look at the <return> object as it appears in the Scope list but if the item is a large array or complex object, etc., I would prefer to type some code into the debugger while paused at a breakpoint to see if I'm getting what I expect.

What I typically resort to is modifying my code to save the return value to a variable, and then reproducing the steps to get back to the breakpoint, but this is annoying.

Thoughts?

Answer 1

Store as Global Variable works in google chrome now, using Version 56.0.2924.87.

So, you step to the close brace of your function in the Sources tab, then context-click the Return Value, and choose Store as Global Variable.

The console tab will show something like

temp1 = ▶ MyClass {...}

From there on you can access temp1 just like any other variable in the console.