avoiding recursion in a dump_table function

[Dave Collins <Dave.Collins@...>]

I’ve got a large object which, for convenience of pulling data from it, is self-referencing. (sometimes I need items from a dept, sometimes I need all items).

 

Essentially, I’ve got this:

 

Flyer

                Departments

                                Dept1

                                                Item1

                                                Item2

                                Dept2

                                                Item3

                                                Item4

                Items

                                Item1

                                Item2

                                Item3

                                Item4

 

 

When I need to look inside this table using the following dump_table method, I get infinite recursion.

 

Any ideas on how I can add some smarts to my dump_table to defeat the infinite recursion?

 

function dump_table(t, prefix)

      if(prefix == nil) then

            prefix = ""

      end

 

      local k,v

      for k,v in pairs(t) do

            if(type(v) == "table") then

                  dump_table(v, prefix .. k .. ":")

            else

                  print(prefix .. k .. "=" .. tostring(v))

            end

      end

end

 

 

 

Dave Collins

Front-End Engineer

Mercatus Technologies Inc.
60 Adelaide Street East, Suite 700
Toronto ON M5C 3E4
T  416 603 3406 x 298
F  416 603 1790

 

dave.collins@mercatustechnologies.com

www.mercatustechnologies.com