Question

If I have a list of items like this:

local items = { 'apple', 'orange', 'pear', 'banana' } 

how do I check if ‘orange’ is in this list?

In Python I could do:

if 'orange' in items:     # do something 

Is there an equivalent in Lua?

Answer 1

You could use something like a set from Programming in Lua:

function Set (list)   local set = {}   for _, l in ipairs(list) do set[l] = true end   return set end 

Then you could put your list in the Set and test for membership:

local items = Set { 'apple', 'orange', 'pear', 'banana' }  if items['orange'] then   -- do something end 

Or you could iterate over the list directly:

local items = { 'apple', 'orange', 'pear', 'banana' }  for _,v in pairs(items) do   if v == 'orange' then     -- do something     break   end end