CODEWITHSUNDEEP
luavariable-assignmentassignment-operator
Silent Pants
Silent Pants

Reputation: 33

What does :: (double-colon) mean before an assignment in lua?

I am currently looking through the first page of documentation for LUA and noticed that every assignment appears as var ::= Name, however I could not find any reference to the syntax of ::= itself. The documentation goes over the structuring of an assignment but glosses over these symbols. What I want to know is if every assignment requires the :: before the actual assignment operator, and, if so, why is it structured this way and not just a plain =?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 642

Answers (2)

Neel Sandell
Neel Sandell

Reputation: 475

It's the assignment operator - typically used in formal grammars.

Upvotes: -1

Nicol Bolas
Nicol Bolas

Reputation: 473272

What you're seeing is not Lua code, but a fragment of the grammar of the Lua language, as defined in Backus-Naur Form. The ::= operator is part of BNF.

Upvotes: 4

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