Control flow

if-then-else

A simple example of if statement:

if a > b then
    print("a is greater than b")
end

if-else statement example:

if a > b then
    print("a is greater than b")
else
    print("a is less or equal to b")
end

A chain of if-else statements is implemented with elseif statement:

if a > b then
    print("a is greater than b")
elseif a < b then
    print("a is less than b")
else
    print("a is equal to b")
end

while

While is a loop statement which checks a given condition before every iteration and executes the loop block if the condition is true:

n = 1

while n < 100 do
    n = n + n * n
    print(n)
end

repeat-until

Repeat-until statement, on the other hand, checks a given condition after every iteration. Also, loop continues if the condition is false:

n = 1

repeat
    n = n + n * n
    print(n)
until n >= 100

Running the example above you'll see the following output:

2
6
42
1806

The last number is greater than 100, however we see it in the output. That happens because repeat-until statement checks the condition after the iteration, not before.

for

There are different ways to use for loop. The simplest one:

for n = 1, 5 do
    print(n)
end

Running the example above you'll see in the output:

1
2
3
4
5

As you see, both ends of the range are included into enumeration. Incremental step equals to 1.

You can specify the incremental step explicitly:

for n = 1, 5, 2 do
    print(n)
end

1
3
5

This step can be negative:

for n = 10, 0, -1 do
    print(n)
end

range-based for loop

To iterate a table you usually use for with in statement:

person =
{
    name = "Alice",
    age = 16,
    website = "alice.myblog.com"
}

for key, value in pairs(person) do
    print(key .. ": " .. value)
end

name: Alice
age: 16
website: alice.myblog.com

Another example:

names = {}
names[0] = "Clare"
names[1] = "Alice"
names[2] = "Bob"
names[3] = "Tiffany"
names[10] = "Sam"

for index, name in ipairs(names) do
    print(index .. ": " .. name)
end

1: Alice
2: Bob
3: Tiffany

Note that in the first example we've used pairs while in the second it's ipairs. What's the difference?

pairs vs ipairs

Both of these are some sort of range views. To iterate a table you need to use one of these.

pairs is a key-value view which works with all kind of keys and used for associative tables. The order of enumeration is unspecified in this case.

ipairs is an indexed view. It iterates a given table like that:

• The indices should be integer. Non-integer indices are ignored;
• The first index should be 1;
• Each subsequent index should be next integer;
• Iteration stops when no subsequent index is found;
• Pairs are ordered by the index in ascending order.

That's why both Clare and Sam are ignored in the last example.