Module:Repr/doc

repr. is a simple Lua function that works a lot like Python's repr. It converts a Lua value into a printable string.

Usage

Call the function with any single value and it will return a string.

local repr = require("Module:Repr").repr

local myTable = {
   hello = "world";
   score = 5;
   isCool = true;
}
print(repr(myTable)) --> {hello = "world", isCool = true, score = 5}

The second value can be a table of options, which allows you to **pretty-print** with newlines:

print(repr(myTable, {pretty=true}))

Here is an example that shows off all the bells and whistles:

local repr = require("Module:Repr").repr
 
local myTable = {
	hello = "repr",
	usefulness = 9001,
	isEasyToUse = true,
	array = {"numerical", "arrays", "are", "easy"},
	land = workspace["a b c"]["1 2 3"],
	subTables = {
		moreInfo = "calls itself recursively to print sub-tables"
	},
	usesToString = {__tostring = function () return "__tostring functions are called automatically" end},
	["$YMBOL$"] = "keys that aren't Lua identifiers are quoted";
	[{also = "tables as keys work too";}] = "in case you need that",
	cyclic = {note = "cyclical tables are printed as just {CYCLIC}"}
}
-- create a cycle:
myTable.cyclic.cyclic = myTable.cyclic
 
local reprSettings = {
	pretty = false;              -- print with \n and indentation?
	semicolons = false;          -- when printing tables, use semicolons (;) instead of commas (,)?
	sortKeys = true;             -- when printing dictionary tables, sort keys alphabetically?
	spaces = 3;                  -- when pretty printing, use how many spaces to indent?
	tabs = false;                -- when pretty printing, use tabs instead of spaces?
}
print(repr(myTable, reprSettings))