Re: io.read("*n") doesn't read after number parsing error

[Nagaev Boris <bnagaev@...>]

On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 8:30 PM, Dirk Laurie <dirk.laurie@gmail.com> wrote:
> 2015-02-28 21:44 GMT+02:00 Nagaev Boris <bnagaev@gmail.com>:
>
>>
>> Is this true, that io.read("*n") should be used if only input is
>> guaranteed to be a number?
>
> Not at all. You can use it to find out whether the input starts with
> a number. You should always test the return value. If nil, you
> can re-read the input with a more forgiving format.
>

I've understood why io.read("*n") behaves so:

>  io.read("*n")
hello
nil
>  io.read()
"hello"
>

So, if the input is not a number, I can get it as a string.
Thank you for the explanation!