function vardump(value, depth, key)
  local linePrefix = ""
  local spaces = ""
  
  if key ~= nil then
    linePrefix = "["..key.."] = "
  end
  
  if depth == nil then
    depth = 0
  else
    depth = depth + 1
    for i=1, depth do spaces = spaces .. "  " end
  end
  
  if type(value) == 'table' then
    mTable = getmetatable(value)
    if mTable == nil then
      print(spaces ..linePrefix.."(table) ")
    else
      print(spaces .."(metatable) ")
        value = mTable
    end		
    for tableKey, tableValue in pairs(value) do
      vardump(tableValue, depth, tableKey)
    end
  elseif type(value)	== 'function' or 
      type(value)	== 'thread' or 
      type(value)	== 'userdata' or
      value		== nil
  then
    print(spaces..tostring(value))
  else
    print(spaces..linePrefix.."("..type(value)..") "..tostring(value))
  end
end

foo="Hello world"
vardump(foo)
vardump({print,12,nil,io.stdin,math})

foo = {"zero",1,2,3,{1,{1,2,3,4,{1,2,{1,"cool",2},4},6},3,vardump,5,6},          5,{Mary = 10, Paul = "10"},"last value"}
vardump(foo)