lua variable name from user input - lua

Question

I am trying to make a "shell" in lua.
But the main problem is, I can not define the variable name from user input.
Here is the core of what I currently have. I am having an issue with the what[2] = what[3] line with the comment below.
How can I better implement this?
function lsplit(inputstr, sep)
if sep == nil then
sep = "%s"
end
local t={} ; i=1
for str in string.gmatch(inputstr, "([^"..sep.."]+)") do
t[i] = str
i = i + 1
end
return t
end
function def(what)
if (what[1] == "end") then
os.exit(0)
elseif (what[1] == "help") then
print("Commander version 0.0")
elseif (what[1] == "var") then
what[2] = what[3] --Can not define
else
print("[ERR] not a command!")
end
end
while(true) do
io.write("-->")
local usr = io.read("*l")
local cmd = lsplit(usr, " ")
def(cmd)
end

Answer 1

you are overwriting you first parameter with you second one, and not creating a new var... try this code! Should work but it is untested!
local userdefinedVars = { }
function lsplit(inputstr)
words = {}
for word in s:gmatch("%w+") do
table.insert(words, word)
end
end
function def(what)
if (what[1] == "end") then
os.exit(0)
elseif (what[1] == "help") then
print("Commander version 0.0")
elseif (what[1] == "var") then
-- This is how you get your things done!
userdefinedVars[what[2]] = what[3]
else
print("[ERR] not a command!")
end
end
while(true) do
io.write("--> ")
local usr = io.read("*line")
local cmd = lsplit(usr)
def(cmd)
end