How can I print a joined table of strings in Lua? - lua

Question

Okay I am working on a script for my Oxide Lua Plugin, and I am also just learning Lua Script so I am not real sure how to do this.
-- *******************************************
-- Broadcasts a Server Notification
-- *******************************************
function PLUGIN:cmdNotice( netuser, args )
table.concat(args," ")
local allnetusers = rust.GetAllNetUsers()
if (allnetusers) then
for i=1, #allnetusers do
local netuser = allnetusers[i]
rust.Notice(netuser, args[1]))
rust.SendChatToUser(netuser, "Message Sent:" .. args[1])
end
end
end
What I am trying to do is fix this so I do not have to manually encase my notice in "".
For example, as the code stands, while I am in game in rust if I use the /notice command I have two outcomes.
Example 1
/notice hello everone
will only produce
hello
but if I do
/notice "hello everyone"
will give the entire message. So I am a little confused.
So my new code should look like this
-- *******************************************
-- Broadcasts a Server Notification
-- *******************************************
function PLUGIN:cmdNotice( netuser, args )
table.concat(args," ")
local allnetusers = rust.GetAllNetUsers()
if (allnetusers) then
for i=1, #allnetusers do
local netuser = allnetusers[i]
rust.Notice(netuser, table.concat(args, " " ))
rust.SendChatToUser(netuser, "Message Sent:" .. table.concat(args, " "))
end
end
end
Edit 3/15/2014
Okay cool so in a since I can also do this as well correct?
function PLUGIN:cmdNotice( netuser, args )
if (not args[1]) then
rust.Notice( netuser, "Syntax: /notice Message" )
return
end
local allnetusers = rust.GetAllNetUsers()
if allnetusers then
for i=1, #allnetusers do
local netuser = allnetusers[i]
local notice_msg = table.concat(args," ")
rust.Notice(netuser, notice_msg)
rust.SendChatToUser(netuser, "Message Sent:" .. notice_msg)
end
end
end

Answer 1

To clarify what #EgorSkriptunoff said, table.concat returns the joined table, but it does not change the value of args. Since you don't save the joined return value, your line 1 inside the function is useless. As an alternative to his approach, you could do rust.SendChatToUser ( netuser, "Message Sent:" .. table.concat(args, " " ).
My guess is that you were thinking (?) that the joined strings would be saved in the args table as the first item in the table? That's not what happens. The table itself remains unchanged, so when you print args[1], you get only the first string of the array. It "works" when you quote the message because in that case the entire message goes in as one thing, and the array only has an arg[1].
Here's what is going on
t = { "hello", "I", "must", "be", "going"}
-- Useless use of concat since I don't save the return value or use it
table.concat(t, " ")
print(t) -- Still an unjoined table
print(t[1]) -- Prints only "hello"
print(table.concat(t, " ")) -- Now prints the return value
Edit: In response to the follow-up question, see my comments in the code below:
function PLUGIN:cmdNotice( netuser, args )
table.concat(args," ") -- This line is not needed.
local allnetusers = rust.GetAllNetUsers()
-- Lua doesn't count 0 as false, so the line below probably doesn't do
-- what you think it does. If you want to test whether a table has more
-- than 0 items in it, use this:
-- if #allnetusers > 0 then...
if allnetusers then
for i=1, #allnetusers do
local netuser = allnetusers[i]
rust.Notice(netuser, table.concat(args, " " ))
rust.SendChatToUser(netuser, "Message Sent:" .. table.concat(args, " "))
end
end
end