On 28-Sep-06, at 7:56 PM, Wesley Smith wrote:
> I'm trying to "clear" an array after a loop is run and reuse it again
> on the next iteration. By "clear" I mean that I wat #array to be 0.
>
> So, if I have:
>
> array = {}
>
> --add stuff to array in loop
> array[#array+1] = stuff
>
> --end loop
>
> --clear array
> array[1] = nil
> print(#array)
>
> What I'm getting from the print statement is the length of the array
> after the loop ended, not the expected 0. Is this correct? I don't
> see why this wouldn't work.
# is not well-defined for tables unless their integer keys range from 1
to k, for some k. If a key is missing (i.e. it's associated value is
nil), # may or may not notice it.
While you could loop over the table to clear it, you are probably
better off just throwing the table away and using a new one for the
next iteration. This would definitely be the case if "stuff" were
something which required allocation, like another table.
If "stuff" is simple enough that you don't need to worry about about
garbage collecting it (numbers, for example), then just keep your own
index into the table and use that:
do
-- initialization
local array = {}
-- start iteration
while true do -- or some condition, or a for statement ...
local top = 1
-- inner loop
for k, v in pairs(things) do -- or whatever
-- add stuff to array in loop
array[top] = stuff
top = top + 1
end
-- mark the end of array (optional)
array[top] = nil
-- now you can iterate over the array reliably with ipairs
for i, stuff in ipairs(array) do
-- something
end
-- on to next iteration
if done then break end
end
end
