Operators

An operator is a symbol for performing an operation or conditional evaluation on one or more values. Operators are used in Lua to manipulate data, perform arithmetic calculations, compare values, and control program flow. Understanding operators is essential for writing efficient and expressive Lua scripts in Highrise.

Logical Operators

Logical operators are used to perform logical operations on boolean values. Lua supports the following logical operators:

• and: Returns true if both operands are true.
• or: Returns true if at least one operand is true.
• not: Returns the opposite boolean value of the operand.

Logical AND Operator (and)

The logical AND operator (and) returns true if both operands are true. Otherwise, it returns false. Here's an example of using the logical AND operator in Lua:

local a = true
local b = false

print(a and b) --> false
print(a and true) --> true

In this example, the expression a and b evaluates to false because b is false. The expression a and true evaluates to true because both a and true are true.

Logical OR Operator (or)

The logical OR operator (or) returns true if at least one operand is true. Otherwise, it returns false. Here's an example of using the logical OR operator in Lua:

local a = true
local b = false

print(a or b) --> true
print(false or b) --> false

In this example, the expression a or b evaluates to true because a is true. The expression false or b evaluates to false because both operands are false.

Logical NOT Operator (not)

The logical NOT operator (not) returns the opposite boolean value of the operand. If the operand is true, it returns false. If the operand is false, it returns true. Here's an example of using the logical NOT operator in Lua:

local a = true
local b = false

print(not a) --> false
print(not b) --> true

In this example, not a evaluates to false because a is true. not b evaluates to true because b is false.

Comparison Operators

In this table, a and b represent variables or values that are being compared.

Comparison Examples

In this table, a and b represent variables or values that are being compared.

Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic operators are used to perform mathematical calculations on numeric values. In this table, a and b represent variables or values that are being operated on.

Compound Assignment Operators

You can use compound assignment operators to combine an arithmetic operation with an assignment. These operators provide a shorthand way to update the value of a variable based on its current value. In this table, a and b represent variables or values that are being operated on.

Miscellaneous Operators

Lua also provides other operators for specific operations and manipulations:

• ..: Concatenation operator used to combine strings.
• #: Length operator used to get the length of a string or table.

Concatenation Operator (..)

The concatenation operator (..) is used to combine strings in Lua. You can use this operator to concatenate two or more strings into a single string. Here's an example of using the concatenation operator in Lua:

local firstName = "Alice"
local lastName = "Smith"
local fullName = firstName .. " " .. lastName
print(fullName) --> "Alice Smith"

In this example, the strings firstName and lastName are concatenated to form the full name Alice Smith.

Length Operator (#)

The length operator (#) is used to get the length of a string or table in Lua. For strings, the length operator returns the number of characters in the string. For tables, the length operator returns the number of elements in the table. Here's an example of using the length operator in Lua:

local text = "Hello, Lua!"
local length = #text
print(length) --> 11

In this example, the length operator #text returns the number of characters in the string text, which is 11.

Operator Precedence

Operator precedence determines the order in which operators are evaluated in an expression. Operators with higher precedence are evaluated first. If operators have the same precedence, they are evaluated from left to right. You can use parentheses () to override the default precedence and explicitly specify the order of evaluation.

Here's the general order of precedence for Lua operators, from highest to lowest:

1. ^
2. - (unary), not, #
3. *, /, %
4. +, -
5. ..
6. <, <=, >, >=
7. ==, ~=
8. and
9. or

By understanding operator precedence, you can write expressions that are clear, concise, and correctly evaluated in Lua.