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Lua 10

Arrays in Lua are implemented using indexing tables with integers. One-dimensional arrays can be represented using a simple table structure and initialized with a for loop. Multi-dimensional arrays can be implemented as an array of arrays or by manipulating indices of a single array.

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Qin Krein
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50 views

Lua 10

Arrays in Lua are implemented using indexing tables with integers. One-dimensional arrays can be represented using a simple table structure and initialized with a for loop. Multi-dimensional arrays can be implemented as an array of arrays or by manipulating indices of a single array.

Uploaded by

Qin Krein
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Arrays are ordered arrangement of objects, which may be a one-dimensional array

containing a collection of rows or a multi-dimensional array containing multiple


rows and columns.

In Lua, arrays are implemented using indexing tables with integers. The size of an
array is not fixed and it can grow based on our requirements, subject to memory
constraints.

One-Dimensional Array
A one-dimensional array can be represented using a simple table structure and can
be initialized and read using a simple for loop. An example is shown below.

Live Demo
array = {"Lua", "Tutorial"}

for i = 0, 2 do
print(array[i])
end
When we run the above code, we wil get the following output.

nil
Lua
Tutorial
As you can see in the above code, when we are trying to access an element in an
index that is not there in the array, it returns nil. In Lua, indexing generally
starts at index 1. But it is possible to create objects at index 0 and below 0 as
well. Array using negative indices is shown below where we initialize the array
using a for loop.

Live Demo
array = {}

for i= -2, 2 do
array[i] = i *2
end

for i = -2,2 do
print(array[i])
end
When we run the above code, we will get the following output.

-4
-2
0
2
4
Multi-Dimensional Array
Multi-dimensional arrays can be implemented in two ways.

Array of arrays
Single dimensional array by manipulating indices
An example for multidimensional array of 3. 3 is shown below using array of arrays.

Live Demo
-- Initializing the array
array = {}

for i=1,3 do
array[i] = {}
for j=1,3 do
array[i][j] = i*j
end

end

-- Accessing the array

for i=1,3 do

for j=1,3 do
print(array[i][j])
end

end
When we run the above code, we will get the following output.

1
2
3
2
4
6
3
6
9
An example for multidimensional array is shown below using manipulating indices.

Live Demo
-- Initializing the array

array = {}

maxRows = 3
maxColumns = 3

for row=1,maxRows do

for col=1,maxColumns do
array[row*maxColumns +col] = row*col
end

end

-- Accessing the array

for row=1,maxRows do

for col=1,maxColumns do
print(array[row*maxColumns +col])
end

end
When we run the above code, we will get the following output.

1
2
3
2
4
6
3
6
9
As you can see in the above example, data is stored based on indices. It is
possible to place the elements in a sparse way and it is the way Lua implementation
of a matrix works. Since it does not store nil values in Lua, it is possible to
save lots of memory without any special technique in Lua as compared to special
techniques used in other programming languages.

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