Is 0 Considered Nil?

Help and Feedback Scripting Support
#1

Hi. I was creating a datastore system, and I noticed when I was saving, i got an error. Argument 2 missing or nil. I think this is because 0 is considered nil, because when I left the game, the value I was saving was 0. Is this true?

#2

No, 0 isn’t nil. Nil is nothing, 0 is still something(an integer, or int).

5 Likes
#3

That’s what i thought. Ill look into my script some more.

1 Like
#4

I can’t seem to figure it out.

local dataStoreService = game:GetService("DataStoreService")
local dataStore = dataStoreService:GetDataStore("Data3")

local UpdateGUI = game.ReplicatedStorage.UpdateGUI
local coinCollected = game.ReplicatedStorage.CoinCollected

local coins = 0

game.Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
	local getData
	local success, err = pcall(function()
		getData = dataStore:GetAsync(player.UserId) 
	end)
	
	if success then
		coins = getData
		UpdateGUI:FireClient(player, coins)
	else
		coins = 0
		UpdateGUI:FireClient(player, coins)
	end
end)

game.Players.PlayerRemoving:Connect(function(player)
	dataStore:SetAsync(player.UserId, coins)
end)

coinCollected.Event:Connect(function(player, coinModel)
	coinModel:Destroy()
	UpdateGUI:FireClient(player, coins)
end)
1 Like
#5

It’s because if a player’s data doesn’t exist, you’re setting the value to nil.

if success then
    coins = getData or 0 -- it's set to getData, if getData doesn't exist, it gets set to 0
else
    coins = 0
    UpdateGUI:FireClient(player, coins)
end

You should also move your coins variable inside of the .PlayerAdded event.

local coins = 0

game.Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
	local getData
	local success, err = pcall(function()
		getData = dataStore:GetAsync(player.UserId) 
	end)

to

game.Players.PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
        local coins = 0
	local getData
	local success, err = pcall(function()
		getData = dataStore:GetAsync(player.UserId) 
	end)
6 Likes
#6

Like @VegetationBush stated, 0 is an integer. It’s a number and is equal to something. Nil means nothing, like nothing exists at all.

#7

Moving the coins variable to the PlayerAdded event will prevent me from accessing it from the PlayerRemoving event

Wait- I forgot that I could just remove the local keyword

1 Like
#8

You’d want to index it when the player leaves, the variable changes for everybody in the server.

Player1 joins; coins = 100

Player2 joins; coins = 0

Player1 leaves; their data is set to 0

Instead I recommend creating a value and then indexing it when the player leaves, or you could use a dictionary.

game:GetService('Players').PlayerAdded:Connect(function(player)
    -- your func to get data

    local coinsValue = Instance.new('IntValue')
    coinsValue.Name = 'Coins'
    coinsValue.Parent = player
    coinsValue.Value = getData

…

game:GetService('Players').PlayerRemoving:Connect(function(player)
    local coinsValue = player:FindFirstChild('Coins') -- that Coins value we created earlier
    local coins = coinsValue.Value
    local success, err = pcall(function() -- I strongly recommend wrapping it in a pcall to catch and handle any potential errors.
        dataStore:SetAsync(player.UserId, coins)
    end)
    if not success and err then
        warn(err)
    end
end)
1 Like
#9

0 is considered nil in some instances. It also is another way of saying N/A values. Another one is nan which is an infinitely large & infinitely small value.

#10

Wrong, for infinitely large or infinitely small values either inf or -inf is used. Nan means “Not a number” which is used when you perform an arithmetic operation that has it’s result either undefined or returns a number that program doesn’t recognize (Like complex numbers for example.).

Also can you give me a single valid example where 0 is considered nil?

#11

Incorrect, 0 is an integer. Nil means nothing at all. 0 is an integer.