Print a list that is stored in a variable in LUA - lua

Question

My script uses lfs to read files in a directory.
It then stores the value in a variable called file.
The problem is the value is actually a list.
Here is a sample value.
.
..
a.txt
b.txt
c.txt
d.txt
I can print this variable as is, but I need to integrate this variable inside a dialog box.
When I integrate this variable inside a dialog box, it prints each line in a new dialog.
Here is my code:
require 'lfs'
function main()
for file in lfs.dir[[C:\Users\QXJtaW5pdXM\Desktop\Test\test_3.4.5.6]] do
print(file)
--This works perfectly fine.
Dialog("Title", "Files:\n" .. file)
--This prints each line in a new dialog box.
end
end
return main
I need to print all the files in one dialog box.
If at all possible, I'd love to avoid printing . & ..
As a picture reference, here is what I get:
https://imgur.com/tmfQlan
Here is what I need:
https://imgur.com/mxYBO9t
Could someone please point me in the right direction?
Thank you very very very much!

Answer 1

Your loop's body is executed once for every file so what do you expect if you create a dialog inside the loop? Create it outside after you've created a list of files.
require 'lfs'
function main()
local files = ""
for file in lfs.dir[[C:\Users\QXJtaW5pdXM\Desktop\Test\test_3.4.5.6]] do
files = files .. file .. "\n"
end
Dialog("Title", "Files:\n" .. files)
end
Maybe there is also another function that gives you a list of file names right away.

Answer 2

I had to use table.insert in a for loop to add values inside a table file_list.
Then use table.remove to remove the first two inputs . & ..
In the end, the code would look something like this:
require 'lfs'
file_list = {}
function main()
for grab_files in lfs.dir[[C:\Users\QXJtaW5pdXM\Desktop\Test\test_3.4.5.6]] do
table.insert(file_list, grab_files)
-- table.insert will assign each input of grab_files into each reference of file_list table
end
table.remove(file_list,1)
-- This removes the '.'
table.remove(file_list,1)
-- This removes the '..'
file_names = table.concat(file_list, "\n")
Dialog("Title", "Files:\n" .. file_names)
end
return main