cheat-sheet-lua

Here is the IO-Project cheat sheet to quickly learn the "Lua" programming language

Table of contents

Use this table of contents to travel more easily through this cheat sheet.

• cheat-sheet-lua
  • Table of contents
  • The basics
    • Code comments
    • Variables and loop
    • Functions
  • Advanced
    • Tables, Array, dict..
      • Metatables and metamethods
      • Class-like tables and inheritance.

The basics

Code comments

-- Two dashes start a one-line comment.

--[[
     by adding two "[" opening and two "]" closing,
     you define a multi-line commentary. ;-)
--]]

Variables and loop

Introduction to variables, basic conditions, some loops (examples available here) and the equivalent of the ternary operator.

num = 42  -- All numbers are doubles.
-- Don't freak out, 64-bit doubles have 52 bits for
-- storing exact int values; machine precision is
-- not a problem for ints that need < 52 bits.

s = 'walternate'  -- Immutable strings like in Python.
t = "double-quotes are also fine"
u = [[ Double brackets
       start and end
       multi-line strings]]
t = nil  -- Undefines t; Lua has garbage collection.

-- Blocks are denoted with keywords like do/end:
while num < 50 do
  num = num + 1  -- No ++ or += type operators.
end

-- If clauses:
if num > 40 then
  print('over 40')
elseif s ~= 'walternate' then  -- ~= is not equals.
  -- Equality check is ==; ok for strs.
  io.write('not over 40\n')  -- Defaults to stdout.
else
  -- Variables are global by default.
  thisIsGlobal = 5  -- Camel case is common.

  -- How to make a variable local:
  local line = io.read()  -- Reads next stdin line.

  -- String concatenation uses the .. operator:
  print('Winter is coming, ' .. line)
end

-- Undefined variables return nil.
-- This is not an error:
foo = anUnknownVariable  -- Now foo = nil.

aBoolValue = false

-- Only nil and false are false; 0 and '' are true.
if not aBoolValue then print('that was false') end

-- 'or' and 'and' are short-circuited.
-- This is similar to the a?b:c operator in C/js:
ans = aBoolValue and 'yes' or 'no'  --> 'no'

karlSum = 0
for i = 1, 100 do  -- The range includes both ends.
  karlSum = karlSum + i
end

-- Use "100, 1, -1" as the range to count down:
fredSum = 0
for j = 100, 1, -1 do fredSum = fredSum + j end

-- In general, the range is begin, end[, step].

-- Another loop construct:
repeat
  print('the way of the future')
  num = num - 1
until num == 0

Functions

Introduction to function definition, recursion with lua and chain assignment followed by closure function.

-- The famous Fibonacci sequence.
function fib(n)
  if n < 2 then return 1 end
  return fib(n - 2) + fib(n - 1)
end

-- Closures and anonymous functions are ok:
function adder(x)
  -- The returned function is created when adder is
  -- called, and remembers the value of x:
  return function (y) return x + y end
end
a1 = adder(9)
a2 = adder(36)
print(a1(16))  --> 25
print(a2(64))  --> 100

-- Returns, func calls, and assignments all work
-- with lists that may be mismatched in length.
-- Unmatched receivers are nil;
-- unmatched senders are discarded.

x, y, z = 1, 2, 3, 4
-- Now x = 1, y = 2, z = 3, and 4 is thrown away.

function bar(a, b, c)
  print(a, b, c)
  return 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42
end

x, y = bar('zaphod')  --> prints "zaphod nil nil"
-- Now x = 4, y = 8, values 15..42 are discarded.

print(type(x))  --> number
-- 'type()' function allow to detemindthe  type of a variable.

-- '...' is an elipse parameter, retrievable in context by '...'.
function e(...) print(...) end
e(2, 4, 8, 6)  --> prints "2    4    8    6"

-- Functions are first-class, may be local/global.
-- (global) These are the same:
function f(x) return x * x end
f = function (x) return x * x end -- same of javascript definition

-- (local) And so are these:
local function g(x) return math.sin(x) end
local g; g = function (x) return math.sin(x) end
-- the 'local g' decl makes g-self-references ok.

-- Trig funcs work in radians, by the way.

-- Calls with one string param don't need parens:
print 'hello'  -- Works fine.

Advanced

Tables, Array, dict..

-- Tables = Lua's only compound data structure;
--          they are associative arrays.
-- Similar to php arrays or js objects, they are
-- hash-lookup dicts that can also be used as lists.

-- Using tables as dictionaries / maps:

-- Dict literals have string keys by default:
t = {key1 = 'value1', key2 = false}

-- String keys can use js-like dot notation:
print(t.key1)  -- Prints 'value1'.
t.newKey = {}  -- Adds a new key/value pair.
t.key2 = nil   -- Removes key2 from the table.

-- Literal notation for any (non-nil) value as key:
u = {['@!#'] = 'qbert', [{}] = 1729, [6.28] = 'tau'}
print(u[6.28])  -- prints "tau"

-- Key matching is basically by value for numbers
-- and strings, but by identity for tables.
a = u['@!#']  -- Now a = 'qbert'.
b = u[{}]     -- We might expect 1729, but it's nil:
-- b = nil since the lookup fails. It fails
-- because the key we used is not the same object
-- as the one used to store the original value. So
-- strings & numbers are more portable keys.

-- A one-table-param function call needs no parens:
function h(x) print(x.key1) end
h{key1 = 'Sonmi~451'}  -- Prints 'Sonmi~451'.

for key, val in pairs(u) do  -- Table iteration.
  print(key, val)
end

-- _G is a special table of all globals.
print(_G['_G'] == _G)  -- Prints 'true'.

-- Using tables as lists / arrays:

-- List literals implicitly set up int keys:
v = {'value1', 'value2', 1.21, 'gigawatts'}
for i = 1, #v do  -- #v is the size of v for lists.
  print(v[i])  -- Indices start at 1 !! SO CRAZY !!
end
-- A 'list' is not a real type. v is just a table
-- with consecutive integer keys, treated as a list.

Metatables and metamethods

-- A table can have a metatable that gives the table
-- operator-overloadish behavior. Later we'll see
-- how metatables support js-prototypey behavior.

f1 = {a = 1, b = 2}  -- Represents the fraction a/b.
f2 = {a = 2, b = 3}

-- This would fail:
-- s = f1 + f2

metafraction = {}
function metafraction.__add(f1, f2)
  sum = {}
  sum.b = f1.b * f2.b
  sum.a = f1.a * f2.b + f2.a * f1.b
  return sum
end

setmetatable(f1, metafraction)
setmetatable(f2, metafraction)

s = f1 + f2  -- call __add(f1, f2) on f1's metatable

-- f1, f2 have no key for their metatable, unlike
-- prototypes in js, so you must retrieve it as in
-- getmetatable(f1). The metatable is a normal table
-- with keys that Lua knows about, like __add.

-- But the next line fails since s has no metatable:
-- t = s + s
-- Class-like patterns given in the section below would fix this.

-- An __index on a metatable overloads dot lookups:
defaultFavs = {animal = 'gru', food = 'donuts'}
myFavs = {food = 'pizza'}
setmetatable(myFavs, {__index = defaultFavs})
eatenBy = myFavs.animal  -- works! thanks, metatable
-- Direct table lookups that fail will retry using
-- the metatable's __index value, and this recurses.

-- An __index value can also be a function(tbl, key)
-- for more customized lookups.

-- Values of __index, add, .. are called metamethods.
-- Main list. Here is a table with the metamethods.

-- __add(a, b)                     for a + b
-- __sub(a, b)                     for a - b
-- __mul(a, b)                     for a * b
-- __div(a, b)                     for a / b
-- __mod(a, b)                     for a % b
-- __pow(a, b)                     for a ^ b
-- __unm(a)                        for -a
-- __concat(a, b)                  for a .. b
-- __len(a)                        for #a
-- __eq(a, b)                      for a == b
-- __lt(a, b)                      for a < b
-- __le(a, b)                      for a <= b
-- __index(a, b)  <fn or a table>  for a.b
-- __newindex(a, b, c)             for a.b = c
-- __call(a, ...)                  for a(...)

Class-like tables and inheritance.