CODEWITHSUNDEEP
lua
mouse
mouse

Reputation: 11

Create a table with a given name?

I don't really understand why this doesn't create a table using a given name. Can someone help clarify this for me?

local table={}

local function createtable(tabname, propername)
    table.tabname={}
    table.tabname.propername=propername or "need a proper name"
end

createtable(foo, "first table")
createtable(bar, "second table")

for k,v in pairs(table) do
    print("table name: "..k)
end

Output:

table name: tabname

Why doesn't it use the given variable value in the function call?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 66

Answers (1)

Etan Reisner
Etan Reisner

Reputation: 80921

You meant tab[tabname]={} not tab.tabname={}.

The tab.str syntax treats the bit after . as a string key not a variable.

Also don't use table as a table name. You shadow the default table library.

Also in createtable(foo, "first table") unless the foo variable already exists that is equivalent to createtable(nil, "first table"). Did you mean createtable("foo", "first table")?

Upvotes: 2

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