Question

If I create a simple lua script file:

test.lua

#!/usr/bin/env lua

local var = math.random(100)
print(var)

It will always print the same value when called, even though it really should be a new random value at each call.

My guess is that the script gets compiled(?) to for example:

#!/usr/bin/env lua

local var = 82
print(var)

(if 82 was the random value at first call)

What can I do to make sure that a new (?)bytecode gets compiled(?) each time I call the script, so that I can get a fresh random value at each execution of the script?

The reason I added the (?) is that I don’t even know if scripts get compiled at all or what happens to them when they are called, but something like that is clearly happening since I get the same value all the time.

Answer 1

Your script is not being kept as bytecode, it’s just that the same default random seed is used at every run. This has the effect you’re seeing: you get the same “random” sequence every time you run your script.

You should initialize it by doing, for example

math.randomseed(os.time())