CODEWITHSUNDEEP
lua
Xikini
Xikini

Reputation: 25

How to convert a string into a variable name?

Basically I have something like below.. Feedback from the user is in the form of a string. "CONST_ME_NONE"

Is there any way to convert "CONST_ME_NONE" into the variable name CONST_ME_NONE?

local CONST_ME_NONE = 0
local CONST_ME_DRAWBLOOD = 17
local CONST_ME_LOSEENERGY = 24

local effects = {CONST_ME_NONE, CONST_ME_DRAWBLOOD, CONST_ME_LOSEENERGY}

local user_input = "CONST_ME_NONE"
user_input = -- do something to convert string to variable name

for i = 1, #effects do
    if effects[i] == user_input then
        -- do something
        break
    end
end

Upvotes: 1

Views: 714

Answers (2)

luther
luther

Reputation: 5564

Since the names you're working with must match user input, and table keys can be strings, it will be much easier to use those names as table keys rather than variables.

local effects = {
  CONST_ME_NONE = 0,
  CONST_ME_DRAWBLOOD = 17,
  CONST_ME_LOSEENERGY = 24,
}

local user_input = "CONST_ME_NONE"

if effects[user_input] ~= nil then
  -- do something
end

Upvotes: 3

Vinni Marcon
Vinni Marcon

Reputation: 616

you can convert a string with the name of a variable into a real variable using load():

load("return string")

example:

print(variable)

eh equals to:

print(load("return variable")())

in your case, instead of

if effects[i] == user_input then

use:

if effects[i] == load("return user_input")() then

you can also check if the method works with print:

print(load("return user_input")())

Upvotes: 0

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