How to easily compare int

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#1

Hi,
I need to easily compare int, that i get returned name of the bigger int (ints are stored in table).

#2

So like compare the size of a string? You can use the # operator or string.len() like so:

local cheese = "cheese"
local ham = "ham"
print(#cheese > #ham) --true
print(string.len(cheese) < string.len(ham)) --false
#3

No, i need to compare size of int, and return name of the bigger one (sry, i wrote it badly) (i store them in array

local array={["int1"]=0,["int2"]=0}

)

#4

You’re indexing with non-numerical values in that table, so I believe it’s a dictionary.

#5

yes, i named it table, but its dictionary

#6

If you use an array instead of a dictionary, you can sort the values out and return either the first or the last element of the array for your integer. You probably don’t need a dictionary here.

local ints = {5, 2, 6, 1, 3, 4}
table.sort(ints)
print(ints[1], ints[#ints])

This sorts from lowest to greatest as per the default behaviour of table.sort. You can specify a comparison function if you want to do this differently.

If you do use a dictionary, that changes your requirements. You’ll have to iterate all the elements and perform a comparison from the current value and the previous index.

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#7

but i need to get the name of biggest, not its value (changing dictionary to array isnt problem)

#8

Here’s a little example of how you could do so:

function getBiggestIndex(dictionary)
    local biggest = -math.huge
    local biggestIndex
    for index, value in pairs(dictionary) do
        if value > biggest then --compare the value with the last biggest 
            biggest = value
            biggestIndex = index
        end
    end
    return biggestIndex
end

local dictionary = {
    int1 = 3,
    int2 = 4,
    int3 = 2
}
local biggestIndex = getBiggestIndex(dictionary)

print(biggestIndex, ", ", dictionary[biggestIndex]) --int2, 4
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#9

A general approach to finding some maximum value in a table goes as follows:

local maximumKey
local maximumValue = -math.huge

for key, value in next, data do
    if value > maximumValue then
        maximumKey = key
        maximumValue = value
    end
end

For the specific case of finding the largest integer in an array of integers, you can simplify this down without sorting the entire array:

local largest = math.max(unpack(data))
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