Is it possible to call a variable like this?

Help and Feedback Scripting Support
#1

So, I have different button locations example:

ButtonLocation1
ButtonLocation2

which are different variables, if I had a for loop and i was set to an number is it possible to do something like this?

ButtonLocationi
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#2

Best bet is to make a table of all your buttons then index using that.

local buttons = {
    buttonLocationClose, buttonLocationDrag
}
for _, location in pairs(buttons) do
    -- whatever you want to do with the value from the table index
end
#3

Hmm… not sure how to implement that in my case, certain amount of buttons will appear base on how many buttons they have purchased… and there are 6 buttons so each button is + one button to appear, and they start with 2 how can I make it so it automatically adds the amount with out adding each manual

#4

Assuming you have a parent frame or folder, you can check if a descendant is added then add that descendant to the table of buttons. If it’s removed then you can check if it’s in the table then remove it from the table

#5

But this system is the one that adds it so that won’t work either.

#6

I’m gonna need more information about what system you have in place if I’m to help further

#7

Kind of like this

function enableUI(UI, Pos, Par)
    for i, v in pairs(Pos) do
        local clone = UI:Clone()
        clone.Name = "CreateCharacter"..i.."Button"
        clone.Position = v
        clone.Parent = Par
        clone.Visible = true
    end
end

-- Actual functionality --

local Positions = {Button1Location, Button2Location}
enableUI(CreateCharacterButtonTemplate, Positions, CharacterSelectionMenu)
#8

If I understand correctly, you are trying to fetch the reference of a variable from its string name. I believe you can do this by using getfenv()[NAME_OF_VARIABLE_HERE_AS_A_STRING].

#9

Is the string suppose to be in [] and inside of the ()?

#10

Not sure if I did this wrong but this didn’t seem to work.

table.insert(Positions, getfenv()["Button3Location"])
print(Positions[2])
#11

getfenv will return a dictionary of all the global variables in the current environment. So if I did this:

local a = 10
local b = { 'hi' }

printing getfenv() would give me:

{
    "a": 10,
    "b": { 'hi' }
}

therefore, getfenv()['a'] would give me 10.

#12

Oh wow! Okay thanks! I have only ever seen it in requiring stuff! That’s awesome, thanks a lot, have a great day!

1 Like
#13

Yeah, I think the malicious scripts use it to fetch the require function without explicitly writing it out so it can’t be detected.

#14

You won’t want to use getfenv, as its use will disable some Luau optimizations. Just use a table directly.

5 Likes
#15

This! Please don’t use getfenv. It will undoubtedly lead to horrible, horrible code.

#16

I see, okay thank you for letting me know that

#17

you can do like this,

local Example1, Example2 = "Example One", "Example Two"

instead of creating multiple lines to store something, you can simply do this.

and if you want to refer the variable its simple. example:

print(Example1)

#18

I am saying can I call a variable with another variable, say “i” was equal to 1 can I do Buttoni in any way?

#19

You’re trying to do something pretty strange. When variables are defined as strings, like the dictionary case where

local test_dic = {
	foo = 1,
	fee = 2,
	fii = 3,
}

equals to

local test_dic = {
	["foo"] = 1,
	["fee"] = 2,
	["fii"] = 3,
}

In these cases, you can take the repeating part of the variable and combine strings to index these keys.

local repeating_part = "f"

local test_dic = {
	["foo"] = 1,
	["fee"] = 2,
	["fii"] = 3,
}

print(test_dic[repeating_part.."oo"])
print(test_dic[repeating_part.."ee"])
print(test_dic[repeating_part.."ii"])

Output:
1
2
3

But yeah, directly indexing a local var is not really possible without maybe using obscure and rare luau functions.

psa: please don’t use those obscure functions like getfenv(), using tables is much better, simple and beautiful for everybody, there’s no need to overcomplicate things.

1 Like