For loop questions

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#1

Hello. I’m currently trying to understand everything about loops and my script is supposed to loop through the players and if it finds a player with a specific name, then it’ll give them a tool, but for some reason, the tool won’t appear in my inventory. Here is my code:

for _, Player in ipairs(Players:GetPlayers()) do
		if Player.Name == "TabbyCat904" then
			print("player found")
			ServerStorage.KillTool.Parent = Player.Backpack
			print("tool given")
		end
	end

I tried tying this to a function, but that didn’t work. I don’t know if that even is possible. Pls let me know if you have an idea. Have a good day!

1 Like
#2

so, the anatomy of For loops are follows:

  • For table iterations:
--If you DONT need to mess with it, you can ignore it with __. 
--ie, For __,element  will allow you to IGNORE the Index part of your table
--you can only use pairs for all tables and ipairs for ARRAYS. 
for [Index/Dictionary Name], [Element] in pairs/ipairs([TABLE]) do
end
  • Regular For loops
For value=1,10,1 do
--This table will start at 1 because Value = 1. Then, it will run 
--until value is greater than or equal to 10. Every time it finishes a loop, it will increment value by 1.
end

Now looking at your code, I dont see anything wrong with it. I suggest VERY verbose print statements everywhere. Print the table GetPlayers() sends back. Print all the elements. print the elements names. Put print flags everywhere. etc

1 Like
#3 
for _, Player in ipairs(Players:GetPlayers()) do -- This Line Is looping trought every players by Players:GetPlayers() is returning a Player of every player in the server (this mean it is looping trought a table)
		if Player.Name == "TabbyCat904" then -- then it is checking every player if the name of the players matches with "TabbyCat904"
			print("player found")
			ServerStorage.KillTool.Parent = Player.Backpack -- then if it matches it will be given the tool to the player so if the script passed all the if statements it will be given this tool to this player in the table
			print("tool given")
		end
	end

If you understanded mark this as solution else reply with your question.

#4

Is this a LocalScript or a Server-Script? If this script is a LocalScript then fire a remote event to the server and clone it inside the Players backpack or you could parent tt to ReplicatedStorage and clone it inside the Player Backpack instead. I recommend going through the RemoteEvents way though.

#5

It is a server Script inside SeverScriptService.

#6

Are there any errors in the output? Also the name inside your string is incorrect. It should be your username…

#7

When is it best to use regular for loops?

#8

This is my forum account. I play games and use studio on the account the script is trying to get.

#9

Ah alright. I see. there isn’t anything wrong with your code from what I’ve seen but just to make sure if you are assigning the variables or not. Try this:

repeat 
task.wait()
until #game.Players:GetPlayers() >= 1 
local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local ServerStorage = game:GetService("ServerStorage")
for _, Player in ipairs(Players:GetPlayers()) do
		if Player.Name == "TabbyCat904" then
			print("player found")
			ServerStorage.KillTool:Clone().Parent = Player.Backpack
			print("tool given")
		end
	end

if there are any errors then please do let me know, this should be inside a script Parented to ServerScriptService

1 Like
#10

As Sckriptor already said, print stuff. For example, do print(Players:GetPlayers()) just before the loop, as the problem might be that the loop is running before the player loads into the game. If that’s the case, an empty table will be printed, and you’ll know for sure.

2 Likes
#11

I use regular for loops for initialization. Ie I need to grab something from a datastore. But the datastore request can fail! Well, better try 2 more times to absolutely make sure its broken before kicking the player.

Now, if you wouldnt mind providing logs and using those verbose print statements i mentioned earlier, that would greatly help speed things along

#12

Here is an efficient way doing this:

game.Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(Player)
   Player.CharacterAdded:Connect(function()
       task.wait()
            if Player.Name == "TabbyCat904" then
			print("player found")
			ServerStorage.KillTool:Clone().Parent = Player.Backpack
			print("tool given")
		end
      end)
end)
2 Likes
#13

and even easier approach:

game:GetService("Players").PlayerAdded:connect(function(Player)
  if Player.Name =="TabbyCat904" then
    print("Player found")
    game:GetService("ServerStorage"):WaitForChild("KillTool"):Clone().Parent=Player.Backpack
    print("Tool given")
  end
end)

YEEEE you and i were thinking the same thing lol

2 Likes
#14

Note that you don’t need to use pairs or ipairs anymore. Luau supports this functionality without having to wrap tables in these functions.

#15

I suggest using Player.UserId instead, it’s more reliable because it cannot be changed by players.

#16

I’m assuming this is being called immediately when the game starts. If so, Players:GetPlayers() will return an empty table because your player hasn’t connected yet.

#17

The numeric for is the special case, so actually the first example is the “regular” type of for loop (nit-pick I know). You can use any iterator, not just pairs(table)/ipairs(table), and you can specify the iterator for any given table with the __iter metamethod.

For an example of not using pairs/ipairs you can write an iterator factory so allow you to write

for number in range(-1, -2. 0.1) do
    print(n) -- -1.4, -1.5, -1.6, -1.7, -1.8, -1.9
end

Or any other visit pattern you can imagine for any data structure, like maybe Vector3 cells in a grid, or clumps of players whose characters are close enough to be teleported to a different server. It’s pretty powerful.

#18

Thank you everyone for your help! Have a wonderful day!

#19

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