Lua - extract a string using patterns

Question

I'm just starting on Lua Patterns.

I have a string |2|34|56|1

How do I extract the numbers from the string?

I can parse the string manually and exclude all the '|' characters. But I'm sure using Lua patterns will be much simpler.

How do patterns help in this case?

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 07 '12 at 14:21

4

If you only want to print those numbers, the best method is:

str = "|2|34|56|1"
str:gsub("%d+", print)

Else, if you want the numbers to be stored in a table, a longer approach is required:

str = "|2|34|56|1"
local tFinal = {}
str:gsub( "%d+", function(i) table.insert(tFinal, i) end)
table.foreach(tFinal, print)        -- This is only to verify that your numbers have been stored as a table.

answered Jul 07 '12 at 14:21

hjpotter92

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Thanks! if some strings were present what would be the solution then? Like `"|2|34|a|1|ba"` – SatheeshJM Jul 07 '12 at 14:52
NO. I mean if the string was `|2|34|a|1|ba`, I'd like to extract the strings as well. I need to extract `2`,`34`,`"a"`,`1`,`"ba"` Is that possible? – SatheeshJM Jul 07 '12 at 15:16
1

@SatheeshJM, use `"[^|]+"` instead of `"%d+"`. – lhf Jul 07 '12 at 18:00

Lua - extract a string using patterns

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