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Reputation: 15660

Trying to use Lua module fails on the command line

I'm trying to learn how to use Lua modules. I've been reading the following manual:

http://lua-users.org/wiki/ModulesTutorial

Unfortunately, I can't even get the first example working! I've done the following:

Created a "mymodule.lua" file which looks like this: 

local mymodule = {}

function mymodule.foo()
    print("Hello World!")
end

return mymodule

Then from the command line, within the folder where the mymodule.lua file resides, I tried to do the following: 

mymodule = require "mymodule"

But I get the following error message: 

myserver:/usr/share/x/research/# mymodule = require "mymodule"
-ash: mymodule: not found

This works: 

myserver:/usr/share/x/research/# local mymodule = require "mymodule"

But then when I try to run the foo() method it fails like so: 

myserver:/usr/share/x/research/# mymodule.foo()
-ash: syntax error: bad function name
myserver:/usr/share/x/research/#

And I guess this makes sense because I declared mymodule as local instead of global on the command line.

I guess my question is why can't I declare the module globally on the command line.
The manual says that I should be running this from an "interactive interpreter". I am using a standard commandline / terminal window in linux... could this be the issue? I usually have to prefix all lua commands with "lua ".

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 793

Answers (1)

Etan Reisner
Etan Reisner

Reputation: 80931

lua is not your shell. You need to run that code from inside the lua interpeter not at your shell prompt.

myserver:/usr/share/x/research/# lua
Lua 5.1.4  Copyright (C) 1994-2008 Lua.org, PUC-Rio
> mymodule = require "mymodule"
> mymodule.foo()

Upvotes: 2

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