The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
breadcrumbs
(After the story "Hansel and Gretel" by the Brothers Grimm).
1. Links displayed across the top of a web
page listing the most recently visited pages so the reader
can quickly jump back to one. Since this function is provided
by the web browser, breadcrumbs are a waste of space.
A better use of the space is to display links to the page's
logical parent pages in the information hierarchy.
2. Information output by statements inserted
into a program for debugging by printf.
[Jargon File]
(2007-03-07)