Difference between revisions of "Module:TableTools"

Revision as of 12:33, 15 December 2013

-- This module includes a number of functions that can be useful when dealing with Lua tables.

local p = {}

-- Define often-used variables and functions.
local floor = math.floor
local infinity = math.huge

--[[
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- isPositiveInteger
--
-- This function returns true if the given number is a positive integer, and false
-- if not. Although it doesn't operate on tables, it is included here as it is
-- useful for determining whether a given table key is in the array part or the
-- hash part of the table.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--]]
function p.isPositiveInteger(num)
	if type(num) == 'number' and num >= 1 and floor(num) == num and num < infinity then
		return true
	else
		return false
	end
end

--[[
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- getNumKeys
--
-- This takes a table and returns an array containing the numbers of any numerical
-- keys that have non-nil values, sorted in numerical order.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--]]
function p.getNumKeys(t)
	local isPositiveInteger = p.isPositiveInteger
	local nums = {}
	for k, v in pairs(t) do
		if isPositiveInteger(k) then
			nums[#nums + 1] = k
		end
	end
	table.sort(nums)
	return nums
end

--[[
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- compressSparseArray
--
-- This takes an array with one or more nil values, and removes the nil values
-- while preserving the order, so that the array can be safely traversed with
-- ipairs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--]]
function p.compressSparseArray(t)
	local ret = {}
	local nums = p.getNumKeys(t)
	table.sort(nums)
	for _, num in ipairs(nums) do
		ret[#ret + 1] = t[num]
	end
	return ret
end

--[[
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- sparseIpairs
--
-- This is an iterator for sparse arrays. It can be used like ipairs, but can
-- handle nil values.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--]]
-- function p.sparseIpairs(t)
--	local nums = p.getNumKeys(t)

return p