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So I'm running a LUA script that executes every minute, this is controlled by software and I can't control the timing of the execution. I would like to check the time every day and trigger a function at a specific time. However, I would like to execute another script 5 minutes before that happens.

Right now I'm doing a string comparison using os.date() and parsing it to a string. It works, but the code isn't pretty and if the time changes, i have to manually change the time in two different variables, I'm pretty new to LUA so I've been having difficulty figuring out the best way to do this.

So the question is, how do I set a time variable, and compare that variable to os.date (or os.time) ?

Bcbury
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1 Answers1

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There's no fancy way to do timers in pure Lua. What you can do to avoid os.date() strings, is to generate timestamps with preset dates, os.time accepts a key-value table to set a date:

timestamp = os.time({year=2019, month=1, day=n})

By iteratively increasing the n variable, you will receive a timestamp for every new n day after January 1st 2019. E.g. 

os.date("%Y-%m-%d %H-%M-%S",os.time({year=2019,month=1,day=900})
--> 2021-06-18 12-00-00

If you can't save the day variable to keep track of (between application restarts), get the current "today" day and iterate from there:

os.date("%Y-%m-%d %H-%M-%S",
    os.time({year=os.date("%Y"),month=os.date("%m"),day=os.date("%d")+n}
)

Using os.date with custom format and os.time makes your code independent of currently set date locale.

After you have determined the timestamp of the first task, offset the second actual task by five minutes secondTaskTimestamp = fistTaskTimestamp + 5*60 (or use os.time again). Your timer checker only should compare timestamps by now.

Now when you have to change the pre-configured time, you will only have to change the time-date of the first task, and the second task will be automatically offset.

Related: How do I execute a global function on a specific day at a specific time in Lua?

BotOfWar
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