checking if a value is not on table ?

[Vrx8]

for example:

Code: Select all

love.load()
a = 9
table = {}
for i=0, 10, 1 do
table.insert(table, i)
end
end

love.draw()
for i,v in pairs(table) do
if v ~= a then
--print something
end
end
end

so what i want to do here is to print something out only once if the value is not on table, how do i do it ?

[Vrx8]

Oh yeah.. I also don't want to use any extra table to get the answer

[raidho36]

You will have to use one extra variable to keep track of table contents. Otherwise the function will be stateless and you won't be able to tell anything about array other than its current element.

[grump]

Code: Select all

local t = {}
for i = 0, 10 do table.insert(t, i) end

local find = 9
local found = false
for index, value in ipairs(t) do
	if value == find then
		found = true
		break
	end
end

if not found then
	print("something")
end

[ivan]

If you want to know if a value is inside the table, you might as well return the index.
You should probably check if the search value is non-nil to prevent bugs:

Code: Select all

--- Finds the first occurrence in a list
-- @param t Table
-- @param s Search value
-- @param o Starting index (optional)
-- @return Numeric index or nil
function table.find(t, s, o)
  o = o or 1
  assert(s ~= nil, "second argument cannot be nil")
  for i = o, #t do
    if t[i] == s then
      return i
    end
  end
end

Note that the function works only with numerically indexed tables with no gaps.
Returns the first index in case of duplicates, usage:

Code: Select all

local t = {}
for i=1, 10 do
  t[i] = i - 1
end
local intable = (table.find(t, 0) ~= nil)

[davisdude]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but it seems like the simplest (and most efficient) solution would be to just check if that element is nil before or after the loop

Code: Select all

local tab = { a = 1, b = 2, c = 3 }
local key = 'testKey'

local notInTable = tab[key] == nil

if notInTable then
	print( 'The key "' .. key .. '" is not present in the table' )
end
-- Loop over table

[grump]

davisdude, OP wants to check the table for a value, not for some random key.

[erasio]

davisdude, OP wants to check the table for a value, not for some random key.

We are in lua. Any value will evaluate to true, nil to false.

If you return the first key or nothing at all, you can use it for condition checking as if you'd return a bool. Just multiple occurrences of the same value aren't covered.

Returning the value you provide as parameter isn't helpful. Having access to the index and a condition function at once is.

This should work for string index table as well if you use

Code: Select all

for k, v in paits(t) do 

Edit: Overlooked a reply. Grump is right. I thought he was responding to Ivan.

My bad!

[grump]

What? OP wants to know if a specific value is not in a table. If you want to check for a specific value, you have to iterate over the table. The keys have absolutely no relevance here.

[erasio]

I skipped a reply and thought you responded to Ivan that his response is bad.

I shouldn't do this on mobile... My bad!

Was just about to delete it but then you replied too quickly^^