Is there something similar with FindFirstChild() but work on table?

Help and Feedback Scripting Support
1

so you see the topic name, I will give an example if you dont understand.

Folder:FindFirstChild("Something") --return nil if the object isnt there

Table.Something --break the script entirely if the value isnt there
1 Like
2

table.find for arrays and a manual for loop for dictionaries.

3

I already look into some table.find but i dont quite understand yet, could you give me an example?

1 Like
4

For that, you need to understand that there are two types of tables: Arrays and Dictionaries.

local MyArray = {11, 22, 'abc'} 
print(MyArray)

will print:

    [1] = 11,
    [2] = 22,
    [3] = "abc"

MyArrayId = table.find(MyArray, 'abc')
print(MyArrayId) --<< will print '3'
2 Likes
5

But what if the value is different but the name of that stay the same?

local Table = {a = 1; b = 2; c = 3;}
-- is there a way to check if that value exist using only the name? (a, b, c)
1 Like
6

Have you tested this? Dot operator works as FindFirstChild, returns nil if index doesn’t exist; it will just mark a warn, but instead you can use [] to index.

local t = { 
	["foo"] = 1;
}

local bar = t["bar"] -- nil

print(bar) -- nil
2 Likes
7

This is called a dictionary and to use something similar to FindFirstChild you can do this

local value = Table[key]

if it exists, it will return the value

local value = Table["a"]
print(value)		-- 1

if not, it will return nil

local value = Table["d"]
print(value)		-- nil

also, if you want to apply the recursion of FindFirstChild, you can make the function that check the table loop through the subtables, something like that

local function RecursionFind(Table, Key:string)
	--		Check main table			--
	if Table[Key] then	return Table[Key]	end
	
	--		Check subtables			--
	for k, v in pairs(Table) do
		if type(v) ~= "table" then	continue	end
		local Find = RecursionFind(v, Key)
		if Find then	return Find		end
	end
end

local Table = {
	A = {
		a = 1,
		b = 1,
		c = 1,
	},
	B = {
		d = 1,
		e = 1,
		f = 1,
	},
}
print(RecursionFind(Table, "a"))		-- 1
print(RecursionFind(Table, "nope"))		-- nil
4 Likes
8

Are you sure Table.Something breaks the script? I just tried it on the Lua interpreter and it just returns nil (no error)

I’ll have to try it in Studio I guess.

Also, in that example, if i try to print(Table[“d”]) , it just prints nil, no error.

local Table = {a = 1; b = 2; c = 3;}

print(Table["notExist"])
print(Table.Tacos)
print(Table.b)

OUTPUT:
nil
nil
2

1 Like
9

the solved answer is only useful if the index exists already that’s why a version of FindFirstChild using indices would be a great addition to roblox editor

edit: but I guess its not that hard to make a homemade version anyways

10

Do you mean a version using table.find?

local function RecursionFind(Table, Key: any): boolean
	--		Check main table			--
	local Find = table.find(Table, Key)
	if Find then	return true		end

	--		Check subtables			--
	for k, v in pairs(Table) do
		if typeof(v) ~= "table" then	continue		end
		if RecursionFind(v, Key) then	return true		end
	end
	return false
end

local Table = {
	Letters = {
		"A",
		"B",
		"C",
		"D",
	},
	Numbers = {
		1,
		2,
		3,
		4
	},
}
print(RecursionFind(Table, 1))		-- true
print(RecursionFind(Table, "E"))	-- false

Simple version that only verifies if any object is inside.

11

Yes, I realized that was a thing shortly after lol