Re: Is this Lua table an array?

["Ashutosh Sharma" <ashutoshsharma@...>]

On 10/4/06, Glenn Maynard <glenn@zewt.org> wrote:
> Rather,
>
>   The length of a table t is defined to be any integer index n such
>   that t[n] is not nil and t[n+1] is nil
>
> Note that an array can have holes; they're even mentioned further down
> in 2.5.5.
>
> > And you want to make sure the table meets those conditions (why? :-),
> > then doing pairs() and checking each key is >=1 and <= #t, and that you
> > see exactly #t of them, should work. I don't think that pairs() will
> > return a key if the value is nil.
>
> ... and integral.
>
> (I also have some difficulty thinking of a real use for wanting to know
> this; if someone gives an example, it may be easier to know exactly what's
> wanted.)

I am writing a bridge between Lua and JavaScript. If it is known that
a table is actually an array, one can then create a JS array rather
than a generic JS Object.
The 'pairs' mechanism is easy enoug to use in Lua code. I'm just
wondering if there's a good way of doing the same from C.

Thanks,
Ashutosh