| title | description |
|---|---|
Metatables |
Metatables attach powerful metamethods to tables, allowing for manipulation like indexing, addition, and concatenation. |
Metatables allow tables to become more powerful than before. They are attached to data and contain values called metamethods. Metamethods are fired when a certain action is used with the datum that it is attached to.
Consider the following code:
local list = {1, 2}
print(list[3])You might expect this code to search through the list for the third index in list, find nothing, and return nil. That's not correct, though. What actually happens is the code searches through the list for the third index, finds nothing, and then checks if there's a metatable attached to the table, returning nil if there isn't one.
The two primary functions for adding and finding a table's metatable, are setmetatable and getmetatable
local x = {}
local metaTable = {} -- metaTables are tables, too!
setmetatable(x, metaTable) -- Give x a metatable called metaTable!
print(getmetatable(x)) --> table: [hexadecimal memory address]The setmetatable function also returns the table that you're setting the metatable of, so these two scripts do the same thing:
local x = {}
setmetatable(x, {})local x = setmetatable({}, {})Metamethods are the functions that are stored inside a metatable. They can go from calling a table, to adding a table, to even dividing tables as well. Here's the list of available metamethods:
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| __index(table, index) | Fires when table[index] is indexed, if table[index] is nil. Can also be set to a table, in which case that table will be indexed. |
| __newindex(table, index, value) | Fires when table[index] tries to be set (table[index] = value), if table[index] is nil. Can also be set to a table, in which case that table will be indexed. |
| __call(table, ...) | Fires when the table is called like a function, ... is the arguments that were passed. |
| __concat(table, value) | Fires when the .. concatenation operator is used on the table. |
| __unm(table) | Fires when the unary – operator is used on the table. |
| __add(table, value) | The + addition operator. |
| __sub(table, value) | The – subtraction operator. |
| __mul(table, value) | The * mulitplication operator. |
| __div(table, value) | The / division operator. |
| __idiv(table, value) | The // floor division operator. |
| __mod(table, value) | The % modulus operator. |
| __pow(table, value) | The ^ exponentiation operator. |
| __tostring(table) | Fired when tostring is called on the table. |
| __metatable | If present, locks the metatable so getmetatable will return this instead of the metatable and setmetatable will error. Non-function value. |
| __eq(table, value) | The == equal to operator¹ |
| __lt(table, value) | The < less than operator¹ |
| __le(table, value) | The <= operator¹ |
| __mode | Used in weak tables, declaring whether the keys and/or values of a table are weak. **Note:** References to Roblox instances are never weak. Tables that hold such references will never be garbage collected. |
| __gc(table) | Fired when the table is garbage-collected. **Note:** On Roblox, this metamethod is disabled. |
| __len(table) | Fired when the # length operator is used on the Object. |
| __iter(table) | Used to denote a custom iterator when using generalized iteration. |
If you want to override relational comparison for your type, you must implement __lt. By default, all four operators (<, <=, >, >=) will call it and interpret the result according to relational identities (a<b == b>a, a<=b == not(b<a))
In some cases, such as when preserving unordered semantics exactly, you can have different behavior for <=.. For example, for floating-point numbers, NaN < NaN is false, and NaN <= NaN is also false. For this case, you can override __le as well, in which case <= and >= will use it instead of inverting the result of __lt.
It should be noted that when writing functions for either arithmetic or relational metamethods the two function parameters are interchangeable between the table that fired the metamethod and the other value. For example, when doing vector operations with scalars division is not commutative. Therefore if you were writing metamethods for your own vector2 class, you'd want to be careful to account for either scenario.
local vector2 = {__type = "vector2"}
local mt = {__index = vector2}
function mt.__div(a, b)
if type(a) == "number" then
-- a is a scalar, b is a vector
local scalar, vector = a, b
return vector2.new(scalar / vector.x, scalar / vector.y)
elseif type(b) == "number" then
-- a is a vector, b is a scalar
local vector, scalar = a, b
return vector2.new(vector.x / scalar, vector.y / scalar)
elseif (a.__type and a.__type == "vector2" and b.__type and b.__type == "vector2") then
-- both a and b are vectors
return vector2.new(a.x / b.x, a.y / b.y)
end
end
function mt.__tostring(t)
return t.x .. ", " .. t.y;
end;
function vector2.new(x, y)
local self = setmetatable({}, mt)
self.x = x or 0
self.y = y or 0
return self
end
local a = vector2.new(10, 5)
local b = vector2.new(-3, 4)
print(a / b) -- -3.3333333333333, 1.25
print(b / a) -- -0.3, 0.8
print(2 / a) -- 0.2, 0.4
print(a / 2) -- 5, 2.5There are many ways to use metatables, for example the __unm metamethod (to make a table negative):
local metatable = {
__unm = function(t) -- __unm is for the unary - operator
local negated = {}
for key, value in t do
negated[key] = -value -- negate all of the values in this table
end
return negated -- return the table
end
}
local table1 = setmetatable({10, 11, 12}, metatable)
print(table.concat(-table1, "; ")) --> -10; -11; -12Here's an interesting way to declare things using __index:
local metatable = {
__index = {x = 1}
}
local t = setmetatable({}, metatable)
print(t.x) --> 1__index was fired when x was indexed in the table and not found. Lua then searched through the __index table for an index called x, and, finding one, returned that.
Now you can easily do that with a simple function, but there's a lot more where that came from. Take this for example:
local t = {10, 20, 30}
print(t(5))Now, obviously you can't call a table. That's just crazy, but (surprise, surprise!) with metatables you can.
local metatable = {
__call = function(t, param)
local sum = {}
for i, value in t do
sum[i] = value + param -- Add the argument (5) to the value, then place it in the new table (t).
end
return unpack(sum) -- Return the individual table values
end
}
local t = setmetatable({10, 20, 30}, metatable)
print(t(5)) --> 15 25 35You can do a lot more as well, such as adding tables!
local table1 = {10, 11, 12}
local table2 = {13, 14, 15}
for k, v in table1 + table2 do
print(k, v)
endThis will error saying that you're attempting to perform arithmetic on a table. Let's try this with a metatable.
local metatable = {
__add = function(t1, t2)
local sum = {}
for key, value in t1 do
sum[key] = value
end
for key, value in t2 do
if sum[key] then
sum[key] += value
else
sum[key] = value
end
end
return sum
end
}
local table1 = setmetatable({10, 11, 12}, metatable)
local table2 = setmetatable({13, 14, 15}, metatable)
for k, v in table1 + table2 do
print(k, v)
endNow, all of these examples can be implemented as a simple function, but you can do a lot more than that. Let's try a simple program that will memorize a number when a possibly laggy math problem is put into it.
For this one we will be using the __index metamethod just to make it simple:
local function mathProblem(num)
for i = 1, 20 do
num = math.floor(num * 10 + 65)
end
for i = 1, 10 do
num += i - 1
end
return num
end
local metatable = {
__index = function (object, key)
local num = mathProblem(key)
object[key] = num
return num
end
}
local t = setmetatable({}, metatable)
print(t[1]) -- Will be slow because it's the first time using this number, so it has to run the math function.
print(t[2]) -- will be slow because it's the first time using this number.
print(t[1]) -- will be fast because it's just grabbing the number from the table.When playing with metatables, you may run into some problems. What happens if you need to use the __index metamethod to create new values in a table, but that table's metatable also has a __newindex metamethod in it? You'll want to use the Lua built-in function rawset to set the value without invoking any metamethods. Take the following code as an example of what happens if you don't use these functions.
local t = setmetatable({}, {
__index = function(self, i)
self[i] = i * 10 -- just as an example
return self[i]
end,
__newindex = function(self, i, v)
--don't do anything because we don't want you to set values to the table the normal way
end
})
print(t[1]) -- Causes a C-Stack overflowNow why would that cause a stack overflow? Stack overflows happen when you try to call a function from itself too many times, but what would cause that to happen? In the __index function, we set self[i] to a value, so when it gets to the next line, self[i] should exist, so it won't call the __index metamethod, right?
The problem is that __newindex doesn't let us set the value. Its presence stops values from being added to the table with the standard t[i] = v method. In order to get past this, you use the rawset function.
local t = setmetatable({}, {
__index = function(self, i)
rawset(self, i, i * 10)
return self[i]
end,
__newindex = function(self, i, v)
--don't do anything because we don't want you to set values to the table the normal way
end
})
print(t[1]) -- prints 10A set is a collection of items with no order and no duplicate elements. An item either is or is not contained within a set. Using metatables, you can construct and manipulate sets within Lua scripts.
The following code includes basic set functionality, letting you construct new sets, add and remove an item, check if a set contains an item, and output the contents of a set.
local Set = {}
Set.__index = Set
-- Function to construct a set from an optional list of items
function Set.new(items)
local newSet = {}
for key, value in items or {} do
newSet[value] = true
end
return setmetatable(newSet, Set)
end
-- Function to add an item to a set
function Set:add(item)
self[item] = true
end
-- Function to remove an item from a set
function Set:remove(item)
self[item] = nil
end
-- Function to check if a set contains an item
function Set:contains(item)
return self[item] == true
end
-- Function to output set as a comma-delimited list for debugging
function Set:output()
local elems = {}
for key, value in self do
table.insert(elems, tostring(key))
end
print(table.concat(elems, ", "))
endA new set can be constructed by calling Set.new() with an optional array of items to add.
local fruits = Set.new({"Apple", "Lemon", "Orange", "Cherry", "Lime", "Peach"})Note that by definition, a set has no concept of ordering.
Adding an item to an existing set can be done via the Set:add() method.
local fruits = Set.new({"Apple", "Lemon", "Orange", "Cherry", "Lime", "Peach"})
fruits:add("Mango")To remove an item from a set, call Set:remove() with the item name.
local fruits = Set.new({"Apple", "Lemon", "Orange", "Cherry", "Lime", "Peach"})
fruits:remove("Orange")To check if a set contains a specific item, use Set:contains().
local fruits = Set.new({"Apple", "Lemon", "Orange", "Cherry", "Lime", "Peach"})
local result1 = fruits:contains("Cherry")
print(result1) -- true
local result2 = fruits:contains("Watermelon")
print(result2) -- falseOther useful operations can be implemented for sets, letting you compare items between sets, combine sets, or subtract one set from another.
When considering sets as Venn diagrams, you can get the intersection of two sets as follows, meaning the items that appear in both sets.
local function getIntersection(set1, set2)
local result = Set.new()
for key, value in set1 do
if set2:contains(key) then
result:add(key)
end
end
return result
end
local freshFruits = Set.new({"Mango", "Lemon", "Orange", "Cherry", "Lime", "Peach"})
local frozenFruits = Set.new({"Mango", "Peach", "Pineapple"})
local commonFruits = getIntersection(freshFruits, frozenFruits)
commonFruits:output() -- Mango, PeachYou can get the union of two sets with the following function, meaning a collection of the items in both sets with no duplicates. Note that this function uses the metatable __add method to provide an addition shortcut of set1 + set2.
function Set:__add(otherSet)
local result = Set.new()
for entry in self do
result[entry] = true
end
for entry in otherSet do
result[entry] = true
end
return result
end
local sweetFruits = Set.new({"Apple", "Mango", "Cherry", "Peach"})
local sourFruits = Set.new({"Lemon", "Lime"})
local allFruits = sweetFruits + sourFruits
allFruits:output() -- Peach, Lime, Apple, Cherry, Lemon, Mango
You can remove all items in one set from the items in another set via the following function. Similar to the function above, this uses the metatable __sub method to provide a subtraction shortcut of set1 - set2.
function Set:__sub(otherSet)
local result = Set.new()
for entry in self do
result[entry] = true
end
for entry in otherSet do
result[entry] = nil
end
return result
end
local allFruits = Set.new({"Apple", "Lemon", "Mango", "Cherry", "Lime", "Peach"})
local sourFruits = Set.new({"Lemon", "Lime"})
local sweetFruits = allFruits - sourFruits
sweetFruits:output() -- Mango, Apple, Cherry, Peach