Lua - iterating through nested list - lua

Question

I'm going to simplify the situation as much as I can. I have the following code:
windows = { "window1", "window2" }
window1 = {
x = 100
y = 100
properties = { active = false, width = 200, height = 200 }
}
window2 = {
x = 0
y = 0
properties = { active = false, width = 200, height = 200 }
}
If I do the following, I get the correct output:
print (window1.x)
OUTPUT: 0
print (window1.properties.active)
OUTPUT: false
HOWEVER, if I iterate through the list, I get "nil" values for "l.x" and "l.properties.active":
for _,l in ipairs(windows) do
print (l)
print (l.x)
print (l.properties.active)
end
Is there a different way I need to iterate through the variables in the lists, so I can get the values?

Answer 1

That is not a nested table, but just a table containing strings. And, as you just saw, a string doesn't contain a value for the key "x".
You have to put the tables in a sequence:
local window1 = {...} -- first table
local window2 = {...} -- second table
local windows = {window1, window2}
for _,l in ipairs(windows) do
-- do stuff with l
end
Or, if you want to keep the list of strings and iterate over the strings, put the windows in a second table using these strings as a key.
local windowNames = { "window1", "window2" }
local windows = {}
windows.window1 = {...} -- first table
windows.window2 = {...} -- second table
for _,l in ipairs(windowNames) do
local ourWindow = windows[l]
-- do stuff with ourWindow
end