The following variables affect the . and pprint words if set in the current dynamic scope:

tab-size

margin

nesting-limit

length-limit

line-limit

number-base

string-limit?

boa-tuples?

c-object-pointers?

The default limits are meant to strike a balance between readability, and not producing too much output when large structures are given. There are two combinators that override the defaults:

with-short-limits ( quot -- )

without-limits ( quot -- )

That the short. and pprint-short words wrap calls to . and pprint in with-short-limits. Code that uses the prettyprinter for serialization should use without-limits to avoid producing unreadable output.