I have a simple problem: I would like to cause the print function in lua to print the contents of a table, rather than just the word "table" and a memory address. For example:
> tab = {}
> tab[1]="hello"
> tab[2]="there"
>
> print(tab)
table: 0x158ab10
--should be
1 hello
2 there
I am aware that I can get this effect by executing something like:
for i,v in pairs(tab) do print(i,v) end
but I would like it to happen simply when I execute print(tab) rather than having to write out a loop every time. can this be done?
You would need to set __tostring() on every table you created. An easier way would be to use a pretty printing technique.
See this link: http://lua-users.org/wiki/TableSerialization
You can do this by overriding the global tostring() function. This is what print() calls on its arguments.
If you do not want to do any coding, try out the Microlight library by Steve Donovan. You can use it as follows:
tostring = require "ml".tstring
tab = {"abc", 3.14, print, key="value", otherkey={1, 2, 3}}
print(tab) --> {"abc",3.14,function: 0x7f5a40,key="value",otherkey={1,2,3}}
Related
Actually I am writting a programming language in Lua. It was quite fun. I've wrote a bit of standard library (stack op and simple io). Then I've thought about labels. It would look like in assembly. While and for loop aren't funny in any bit so programming in that language can be quite challenging. Here are some requirements for this system:
Label stack (or array, dictionary) must be accessible from global context.
Jump instruction handler will be in separate file.
This is how my label-handling function look like:
function handleLabel(name,currentLine)
end
I have no idea how to implement this kind of magic. First I've thought about that:
LabelLineIDS = {}
Labels = {}
Labelamount = 1;
function handleLabel(name,currentLine)
LabelLineIDS[Labelamount]=currentline
Labels[Labelamount]=name
Labelamount=Labelamount+1
end
-- In file "jump.lua":
local function has_value (tab, val)
for index, value in ipairs(tab) do
if value == val then
return index
end
end
print ("Error: Label not defined.") -- Bail out.
os.exit(1)
end
local function _onlabel()
local labelName = globalparams --Globalparams variable contain parameters to each function, at the moment
--this will contain label name. It _can_ be nil.
return LabelLineIDS[has_value(Labels, labelName)]
end
CurrLine = _onlabel() --Currline - current line that get's parsed.
--1 command per one line.
But I'm unsure is this well written or even work. Can you give me idea how to parse labels in my programming language (and write jump functions)? Or if my code is pretty ok at the moment, can you help me to improve it?
Using line counter in my parser I've decided to implement gotos like we can see in BASIC. Thanks everyone for help.
Following definitions print already the result of the functions in the table:
function plus1(zahl) print(zahl+1) end
function plus2(zahl) print(zahl+2) end
function plus3(zahl) print(zahl+3) end
-- already prints out 6,5,10
local tfunc={plus1(5),plus2(3),plus3(7)}
how can I avoid this?
how can I iterate through the functions with given parameters in the table? I would like to call the functions like:
tfunc[1]
to print out 6. But it does not work.
#pschulz, thanks to show me the way :
local tfunc = {{plus1,5},{plus2,3},{plus3,7}}
tfunc[i][1](tfunc[i][2])
allows to iterate with index i through the different functions with different args. The trick is tables with function name and args inside the table.
In you table, you are currently storing nothing (or three nil). The table takes the return value of the function and since you are returning nothing, it gets nil.
What you have to do is store functions:
local tfunc = {
plus1,
plus2,
plus3
}
No you can call your functions like this:
tfunc[1](5)
On iterating: If i understand correctly, you want to do the following:
local tfunc = {
plus1,
plus2,
plus3
}
local tvalues = { 5, 3, 7 }
for i, func in ipairs(tfunc) do
func(tvalues[i])
end
So you have to save your values in another table. There are more elegant ways to do this, i suggest you have a reading on closures.
local tfunc={plus1(5),plus2(3),plus3(7)}
Here you call the functions inside the table constructor.
So once you create your table you will print those values. As your function does not return anything tfunc remains empty.
You can either store the function call as a string and let Lua execute that string or you can save the function in the table without calling it. Then you need some way to get the function parameter zahl into your function call.
To me what you want to do makes no sense.
If you want to call it like tfunc[1] it will always print 6. So why not just call print(6)?
If you want to add 3 to a number you want to print, just call print(number + 3) e.g.
Your code will remain more readable and easier to understand if you don't move simple arrithmetics into an extra function.
I would like to have a dynamic variable name and want to be able to eval and get the value of it and was wondering if this was available. Example on how I want to use it.
audio.play(eval("readAloudPage"..page_num)))
If the value of a global variable is sought, then try _G["readAloudPage"..page_num].
Or define
function eval(name)
return _G[name]
end
Dynamic variable names must be table fields: the globals table which is named _G, or your own table if you don't want to use globals (usually the case). Example:
local yourDynVars = {}
yourDynVars["readAloudPage"..page_num] = ...
audio.play(yourDynVars["readAloudPage"..page_num])
print( yourDynVars.readAloudPage2 ) -- not dynamic; prints nil unless page_num was 2, above
If you replace yourDynVars table by _G the only difference is that in the last line you can access the var directly:
_G["readAloudPage"..page_num] = ...
audio.play(_G["readAloudPage"..page_num])
print( readAloudPage2 ) -- not dynamic; prints nil unless page_num was 2, above
Lua's closest equivalent to eval(code) would be loadstring(code)().
Notice loadstring(code) does not execute the code, it dynamically creates a function with it. Use loadstring(code)() to create and run it.
The closest you can get is lhf's solution to use _G["readAloudPage"..page_num].
Lua provides loadstring function to convert strings to executable functions, but this function is disabled in Corona SDK (and can only be used/accessed in debug environment).
For example, I have a table
table.insert( t, 1, function()
print ("rock");
end );
Is there any way to get function name from this table. I know that I can store name like a key, but what if I want to keep numeric index and also I want to know function name?
Is there any way to do it?
Thanks, on advance.
Say you have this code:
t = {}
x = 5
table.insert(t, 1, x)
t would then be {[1] = 5}. "5" is just a number - it has no name, and isn't associated with the variable "x"; it's a value.
In Lua, functions are treated exactly the same way, as values:
t = {}
x = function() print("test! :D") end
table.insert(t, 1, x)
The value of x is not associated with x in any way, shape, or form. If you want to manually name a function, you can do it by wrapping the function in a table, for example:
t = {}
x = function() print("test! :D") end
table.insert(t, 1, {
name = "MyFunctionName",
func = x
})
That is how you would do it!
...unless..
..you break the rules!
When Lua was developed, the developers realised that the anonymous nature of functions would make productive error messages difficult to produce, if not impossible.
The best thing you'd see would be:
stdin: some error!
stdin: in function 'unknown'
stdin: in function 'unknown'
So, they made it so that when Lua code was parsed, it would record some debug information, to make life easier. To access this information from Lua itself, the debug library is provided.
Be very careful with functions in this library.
You should exert care when using this library. The functions provided here should be used exclusively for debugging and similar tasks, such as profiling. Please resist the temptation to use them as a usual programming tool: they can be very slow. Moreover, several of these functions violate some assumptions about Lua code (e.g., that variables local to a function cannot be accessed from outside or that userdata metatables cannot be changed by Lua code) and therefore can compromise otherwise secure code.
To achieve your desired effect, you must use the debug.getinfo function; an example:
x = function()
print("test!")
print(debug.getinfo(1, "n").name)
end
x() -- prints "test!" followed by "x"
Unfortunately, the form of debug.getinfo that operates directly on a function doesn't fill the name argument (debug.getinfo(x, "n").name == nil) and the version above requires you to run the function.
It seems hopeless!
...unless..
..you really break the rules.
The debug.sethook function allows you to interrupt running Lua code at certain events, and even change things while it's all happening. This, combined with coroutines, allows you to do some interestingly hacky stuff.
Here is an implementation of debug.getfuncname:
function debug.getfuncname(f)
--[[If name found, returns
name source line
If name not found, returns
nil source line
If error, returns
nil nil error
]]
if type(f) == "function" then
local info = debug.getinfo(f, "S")
if not info or not info.what then
return nil, nil, "Invalid function"
elseif info.what == "C" then
-- cannot be called on C functions, as they would execute!
return nil, nil, "C function"
end
--[[Deep magic, look away!]]
local co = coroutine.create(f)
local name, source, linedefined
debug.sethook(co, function(event, line)
local info = debug.getinfo(2, "Sn")
name = info.namewhat ~= "" and info.name or nil
source, linedefined = info.short_src, info.linedefined
coroutine.yield() -- prevent function from executing code
end, "c")
coroutine.resume(co)
return name, source, linedefined
end
return nil, nil, "Not a function"
end
Example usage:
function test()
print("If this prints, stuff went really wrong!")
end
print("Name = ", debug.getfuncname(test))
This function isn't very reliable - it works sometimes, and doesn't others. The debug library is very touchy, so it's to be expected.
Note that you should never use this for actual release code! Only for debugging!
The most extreme case that is still acceptable is logging errors on piece of released software, to help the developer fix issues. No vital code should depend on functions from the debug library.
Good luck!
The function hasn't got any name. If you want you can assign it to a named variable:
theFunction = t[1]
-- Call it:
theFunction()
If what you want is storing a named function to the table, define it beforehand and use its name to store it:
theFunction = function()
print ("rock");
end
table.insert(t, 1, theFunction)
If this is not what you meant, give more details; for example how you would like to access the function. You're question is a bit misty.
The thing is table.insert considers the table as a sequence, only with numeric keys.
If you want to be able to call the function as t.fun() you'll have to use the table as an associative array and hence use a string as key. (BTW any type except nil or NaN are allowed as key)
t={}
t['MyFun']=function print'foo' end
t.myFun() -- uses syntactic sugar for string keys that are valid identifiers.
You might also notice that functions are passed by reference. So all functions are actually anonymous, and are just stored as a value to a certain key or variable.
You can store the names in a separate table.
functions = {}
functionNames = {}
function addFunction(f, name)
table.insert(functions, f)
functionNames[name] = f
end
To get the function, you can use the index. Once you have the function, you can get its name from function_names:
f = functions[3]
name = functionNames[f]
Good luck!
I'm generating some (non-html) documentation for a Lua library that I developed. I will generate the documentation by hand, but I'd appreciate some kind of automation if possible (i.e. generating skeletons for each function so I can fill them in)
I'd like to know if there's a way for lua to know the names of the parameters that a function takes, from outside it.
For example, is there a way to do this in Lua?
function foo(x,y)
... -- any code here
end
print( something ... foo ... something)
-- expected output: "x", "y"
Thanks a lot.
ok,here is the core code:
function getArgs(fun)
local args = {}
local hook = debug.gethook()
local argHook = function( ... )
local info = debug.getinfo(3)
if 'pcall' ~= info.name then return end
for i = 1, math.huge do
local name, value = debug.getlocal(2, i)
if '(*temporary)' == name then
debug.sethook(hook)
error('')
return
end
table.insert(args,name)
end
end
debug.sethook(argHook, "c")
pcall(fun)
return args
end
and you can use like this:
print(getArgs(fun))
Try my bytecode inspector library. In Lua 5.2 you'll be able to use debug.getlocal.
Take a look at debug.getinfo, but you probably need a parser for this task. I don't know of any way to fetch the parameters of a function from within Lua without actually running the function and inspecting its environment table (see debug.debug and debug.getlocal).
function GetArgs(func)
local args = {}
for i = 1, debug.getinfo(func).nparams, 1 do
table.insert(args, debug.getlocal(func, i));
end
return args;
end
function a(bc, de, fg)
end
for k, v in pairs(GetArgs(a)) do
print(k, v)
end
will print
1 bc
2 de
3 fg
Basically we use debug.getinfo to retrieve the nparams attribute (which gives us the information of how many parameters the function takes) and debug.getlocal to access the name of the parameters.
Tested and working with Lua 5.4
Take a look at the luadoc utility. It is sort of like Doxygen, but for Lua. It is intended to allow the documentation to be written in-line with the source code, but it could certainly be used to produce a template of the documentation structure to be fleshed out separately. Of course, the template mechanism will leave you with a maintenance issue down the road...