Can a for loop skip a certain value?
I'm not quite sure how to explain this but i'll try
--Imagine you had a simple for loop with a table
local _table = {
1,
2,
"gorilla",
3,
4,
}
for i,v in pairs(_table) do
print(v)
end
--> Console: 1, 2, gorilla, 3, 4
What I'm asking is if its possible for this script to print all of the numbers but skip the gorilla string. Like below
-->Console: 1,2,3,4
0
1 answer
The best way to print just numbers is to use either tonumber() or type().
Example:
(Using tonumber())
local _table = {
1,
2,
"gorilla",
3,
4,
}
for i,v in pairs(_table) do
if tonumber(v) then
print(v)
end
end
What the above does is this:
tonumber is a function that converts strings to numbers; if it can . By using an if statement, I am testing whether or not the conversion went through. If it did, the statement will be true, and it will print the number; if not, the value will not print.
Note: if you call this function while the value is a number (like, try to convert a number to a number), it will still return true; and the number will print.
(Using type())
local _table = {
1,
2,
"gorilla",
3,
4,
}
for i,v in pairs(_table) do
if type(v) == "number" then
print(v)
end
end
What the above does is this:
type is a function that returns the type of value the argument is. If the argument is "gorilla", then it will return string; however, if the argument is 1, then it will return number. type cannot determine, though, the difference between 1 and "1" (the number one and a stringified one) considering the stringified one is a string.
I am using the if statement to ensure that the returned type, is a number. If it is, the statement is true, and the number is printed, if not, then the for loop "skips" (iterates) again.
Resources: