flattenn

flattenn

The flattenn function "flattens" a general lua table to a 1-dimensional array. This procedure discards all table keys and sub-tables but retains all values as an indexed 1-dimensional array. Flattening is useful, for example, to access all table data without keys and without keeping track of accessing sub-tables.

In comparison, the flatten function retains only the numeric values from a general table.

Syntax

new_array = flattenn( tbl )

tbl is a general lua table.

new_array is the flattened 1-dimensional array.

Examples

The following script flattens a complex, ugly table. The oiginal and flattened tables are listed below the script.

t = { 6, -2, 15, "a", {5,"b"}, c="5.4" }
list(t)	-- list the original table
tnew = flattenn(t)	-- flattenn to 1-dimension
list(tnew)	-- list the result

In the listing below, notice that all values are retained but the keys and sub-tables are removed.

Original Table

Flattened Table

{

[1]=6

[2]=-2

[3]=15

[4]="a"

[5]=

{

[1]=5

[2]="b"

}

[c]="5.4"

}

{

[1]=6

[2]=-2

[3]=15

[4]="a"

[5]=5

[6]="b"

[7]="5.4"

}

Syntax

Examples

Related Topics