# Displaysize limit not respected for multi-dimensional arrays

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/displaysize-limit-not-respected-for-multi-dimensional-arrays/95698>\
**Category:** General Usage\
**Tags:** repl\
**Created:** [March 7, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/displaysize-limit-not-respected-for-multi-dimensional-arrays/95698 "2023-03-07T22:20:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![fredcallaway](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/fredcallaway/32/20304_2.png) [@fredcallaway](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/fredcallaway)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/displaysize-limit-not-respected-for-multi-dimensional-arrays/95698/1 "2023-03-07T22:20:13Z")

</div>

Displaying a multi-dimensional array will often create a huge amount of stdout, clearing scroll back history and causing the session to hang (especially when over ssh). For a matrix, you can limit the size of the display with something like `Base.active_repl.options.iocontext[:displaysize] = (20, 80)`. However, when you display a 3D array, it prints several slices (each one of size 20x80). For an array with many dimensions, this can produce an unbounded amount of text.

Is there any way to set a hard limit on the amount of output that a single command can produce? Or, would it make sense to define `display` for arrays in a way that respects `:displaysize`?