Part I. The Language Chapter 2. Types and Values

2 - Types and Values

Lua is a dynamically typed language. There are no type definitions in the language; each value carries its own type.

There are eight basic types in Lua: nil, boolean, number, string, userdata, function, thread, and table. The type function gives the type name of a given value:

    print(type("Hello world"))  --> string
    print(type(10.4*3))         --> number
    print(type(print))          --> function
    print(type(type))           --> function
    print(type(true))           --> boolean
    print(type(nil))            --> nil
    print(type(type(X)))        --> string

The last example will result in "string" no matter the value of X, because the result of type is always a string.

Variables have no predefined types; any variable may contain values of any type:

    print(type(a))   --> nil   (`a' is not initialized)
    a = 10
    print(type(a))   --> number
    a = "a string!!"
    print(type(a))   --> string
    a = print        -- yes, this is valid!
    a(type(a))       --> function

Notice the last two lines: Functions are first-class values in Lua; so, we can manipulate them like any other value. (More about that in Chapter 6.)

Usually, when you use a single variable for different types, the result is messy code. However, sometimes the judicious use of this facility is helpful, for instance in the use of nil to differentiate a normal return value from an exceptional condition.