Lua: Print value from nested table

Question

I feel like this is a really silly question...

t = {
a = {x,y},
b = {z},
}

How do I print the first value of the key 'a'? ("x") Neither

print(t["a"][1])

nor

print(t.a[1])

does it, so how would I go about?

What's the difference between '[]' and '.' btw?

In Lua string literals must be enclosed in quotes: `t = {a = {'x','y'}, b = {'z'}}` — Egor Skriptunoff, Apr 29 '13 at 16:34

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 29 '13 at 16:43

What's the difference between '[]' and '.' btw?

The dot is just a shortcut / syntax sugar for the index operator [] with strings. foo.bar is equivalent to foo["bar"]. foo[bar] on the other hand would return the value at the index of the value of the variable bar, so if bar happens to be baz it would do foo["baz"] / foo.baz.

You must use the []-syntax when using strings which are no valid Lua identifiers ("variable names") or non-strings as indices, like foo["Jon Doe"] or foo[3].

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:33

1

In this code, x, y, and z are all undefined and so t.a and t.b are empty tables. My answer to your previous question stores x, y, and z as strings (but as keys, not as values).

edited May 23 '17 at 12:33

Community

1
1

answered Apr 29 '13 at 16:25

lhf

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and so it was a silly question. I got it to work, I thank you again! – Easypeasy Apr 29 '13 at 16:41

Lua: Print value from nested table

2 Answers2