Lua Operators
Operators Tutorial
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Expressions are evaluated in order to perform calculations which may assign values to variables or pass arguments to functions. Expressions are covered pretty well in section 2.5 of the Reference Manual.[1] Expressions are covered here for completeness and to offer more examples.
We’ll use the = expression shorthand notation for this page. The values can easily be assigned to a variable, e.g.,
> x = 7
> print(x)
7
> = 7
7
Arithmetic expressions
Lua has the usual binary arithmetic operators.
> = 2+3, 5-12, 2*7, 7/8
5 -7 14 0.875
> = 5*(2-8.3)/77.7+99.1
98.694594594595
Unary negation:
> = -(-10), -(10)
10 -10
Modulo (division remainder):
> = 15%7, -4%3, 5.5%1
1 -1 0.5
Power of:
> = 7^2, 107^0, 2^8
49 1 256
Relational expressions
Relational operators are supplied which return the boolean values true or false.
== equal to
~= not equal to
< less than
> greater than
<= less than or equal to
>= greater than or equal to
Examples:
> = 1 == 1, 1 == 0
true false
> = 1 ~= 1, 1 ~= 0
false true
> = 3 < 7, 7 < 7, 8 < 7
true false false
> = 3 > 7, 7 > 7, 8 > 7
false false true
> = 3 <= 7, 7 <= 7, 8 <= 7
true true false
> = 3 >= 7, 7 >= 7, 8 >= 7
false true true
These also work on strings (alphabetical order) and other types.
> = "abc" < "def"
true
> = "abc" > "def"
false
> = "abb" < "baa"
true
> = "abc" == "abc"
true
> = "abc" == "a".."bc"
true
Objects will not be equal if the types are different or refer to different objects.
> = {} == "table"
false
> = {} == {} -- two different tables are created here
false
> t = {}
> t2 = t
> = t == t2 -- we're referencing the same table here
true
Coercion does not work here, the types must be converted explicitly. See NumbersTutorial and StringsTutorial for explanation of coercion.
> = "10" == 10
false
> = tonumber("10") == 10
true
Logical operators
Lua provides the logical operators and, or and not. In Lua both nil and the boolean value false represent false in a logical expression. Anything that is not false (either nil or false) is true, including 0, which might be surprising coming from some other languages. There are more notes on the implications of this at the end of this page.
> = false==nil -- although they are both considered false by logical operators, they're still different values
false
> = true==false, true~=false
false true
> = 1==0
false
not
The keyword not inverts a logical expression value:
> = true, false, not true, not false
true false false true
> = not nil -- nil represents false
true
> = not not true -- true is not not true!
true
> = not "foo" -- anything not false or nil is true
false
and
The binary operator and does not necessarily return a boolean value true or false to the logical expression x and y. In some languages the and operator returns a boolean dependent on the two inputs. Rather in Lua, it returns the first argument (without even executing the second one) if its value is false or nil, and the second argument if the first argument is not false or nil. So, a boolean is only returned if the first argument is false or the second argument is a boolean. Aka minimal evaluation.
> = false and true -- false is returned because it is the first argument
false
> = nil and true -- as above
nil
> = nil and false
nil
> = nil and "hello", false and "hello"
nil false
> = false and print("hello") -- the print function isn't evaluated, so "hello" isn't printed
false
All of the above expressions return the first argument. All of the following expressions return the second argument, as the first is true.
> = true and false
false
> = true and true
true
> = 1 and "hello", "hello" and "there"
hello there
> = true and nil
nil
> = true and print("hello") -- the print function is evaluated here, so "hello" is printed
hello
nil
As you can see the logical expressions are still evaluated correctly but we have some interesting behaviour because of the values returned.
or
The or binary operator also does not necessarily return a boolean value (see notes for and above). If the first argument is not false or nil it is returned, otherwise the second argument is returned. So, a boolean is only returned if the first argument is true or the second argument is a boolean.
> = true or false
true
> = true or nil
true
> = "hello" or "there", 1 or 0
hello 1
> = true or print("hello") -- the print function isn't evaluated, so "hello" isn't printed
true
All of the above expressions return the first argument. All of the following expressions return the second argument, as the first is false or nil.
> = false or true
true
> = nil or true
true
> = nil or "hello"
hello
> = false or print("hello") -- the print function is evaluated here, so "hello" is printed
hello
This can be a very useful property. For example, setting default values in a function:
> function foo(x)
>> local value = x or "default" -- if argument x is false or nil, value becomes "default"
>> print(value, x)
>> end
>
> foo() -- no arguments, so x is nil
default nil
> foo(1)
1 1
> foo(true)
true true
> foo("hello")
hello hello
Ternary operators
Even though Lua doesn’t have a ternary operator (if/else expression), it’s possible to create similar behavior with and and or:
value = condition and trueval or falseval;
If condition is true, trueval is returned, otherwise falseval is returned. To help understand this, remember that and has a higher precedence than or:
value = (condition and trueval) or falseval;
If condition is true, this causes the and to run trueval and return its value. Otherwise, the whole and part of the expression will be false, triggering the or expression to run falseval. Note that this has the issue that falseval will be run if trueval is nil or false. This can be worked around by negating the condition if you know falseval is always a “true” value, otherwise you’ll just need to use an if-then-else statement.
This does not work in a case of “value = false and true or false”. RecentChanges · preferences edit · history Last edited May 9, 2014 4:28 pm GMT (diff)