Typically you don't want to run infinite loops in your code, unless you have one infinite loop that acts as the root of everything in your game (known as a game loop).
Side note: I would also recommend using task.wait
and task.spawn
over regular wait
and spawn
. The reason being, the task
library is more closely aligned with ROBLOX's thread scheduler. You can read more about the task library here.
Variables
To answer your question, you can use a variable to represent your loop's wait interval, then change that variable whenever you want to change the interval amount. Here's an example:
Ex:
10 | if loopCount = = 5 then |
15 | task.wait(waitInterval) |
In this example, we're keeping track of how many loop cycles have occurred with our loopCount
variable, and representing the loop cycle interval with the waitInterval
variable.
Just to demonstrate how this could be useful, after the loopCount
reaches a value of 5 we change the waitInterval
value to 3 which will speed up the loop.
Breaking Loops
If you want to stop a loop completely, you can use the break
or return
keywords. If you only care about stopping the loop and nothing else, you should just use break
. I recommend looking more into the difference between break
and return
on your own time.
Here's an example similar to the last of how we can stop a loop using break
:
09 | if loopCount = = 5 then |
14 | task.wait(waitInterval) |
In this new example, the loop will continue to cycle until the loopCount
reaches 5. Then the loop stops immediately.
Caution
Just as a caution, using task.spawn
should always be a last resort solution. 99.9% of the time you don't need to do multiple things at once. Usually, you can just run your code synchronously, or there is probably some event that exists that will do the job for you.
Definitely ask around if you find yourself using task.spawn
or any thread-creating function for the purpose of simultaneity. Someone should be able to give you a better solution.
I hope this answer helped you out, let me know if you have any questions!
Edit:
There is no primitive way to toggle a loop without using the coroutine
library to yield
and resume
threads. Each loop you spawn will continue to run in the background until it is broken.
This is one of the reasons why I said "be cautious when using spawn", because this can hog computer resources very quickly.
If Statements & "Toggling"
Regardless, you just need to create an if-statement with some external variable that controls the flow of the code inside the loop.
Ex:
02 | local loopIsActive = true |
13 | if loopCount = = 5 then |
18 | task.wait(waitInterval) |
Now, whenever you change the loopIsActive
variable to false
, the code inside the loop won't execute. When you change it back to true
, it will start executing again.
To "toggle" between loops, you would just do the same thing for your other spawned loop. Just keep in mind that this is a sub-optimal solution because using task.spawn
here is a sub-optimal strategy. If you want a better solution, you should mention the context of the problem you're trying to solve and then we can start providing you with a better strategy.
Ex:
17 | if loopOne.running then |
22 | if loopOne.counter% 5 = = 0 then |
23 | loopOne.running = false |
24 | loopTwo.running = true |
27 | print ( "running loop 1" ) |
30 | wait(loopOne.waitInterval) |
37 | if loopTwo.running then |
42 | if loopTwo.counter% 5 = = 0 then |
43 | loopOne.running = true |
44 | loopTwo.running = false |
47 | print ( "running loop 2" ) |
50 | wait(loopTwo.waitInterval) |
A better solution would be to use coroutines
for their actual pause/play mechanic, but that's a whole other topic entirely (and not necessary most of the time).