im looking to turn this table / dictionary
local EntryTable = {
["Entry1"] = "CoolText",
["Entry2"] = "NotSoCoolText"
}
into a string
ive looked at other topics and they just show something with string.format but never really explain what it does
table.concat
Oh wait, itâs a dictionary. Youâll need to do something else a little more complex:
local str = ""
for key, value in pairs(EntryTable) do
str..=`{key}: {value}\n`
end
print(str)
What this does is creates a blank string and appends the key to the value in the dictionary, and then the value. Then, the newline character is added so the next item is displayed on another line.
What structure should it be? Does it need to be nicely formatted?
If not you can use HttpService:JSONEncode() like so:
local HttpService = game:GetService("HttpService")
local text = HttpService:JSONEncode(EntryTable)
Which will set text to {"Entry2":"NotSoCoolText","Entry1":"CoolText"}
Cool, how exactly does it turn the value and key into string formation? is it something with the {} and the ââ?
And also how should i go about turning it back into dictonary formation?
id prefer if it was, id like to somewhat easily be able to read & modify it on the go
That is just the string interpretation. You could also do str..=key..": "..value.."\n".
You can use string.split:
local backToDictionary = {}
local newlineSeparators = str:split("\n")
for _, str in newlineSeparators do
--let's say 'str' = "Entry1: CoolText"
local keyToValue = str:split(": ")
if not keyToValue or not keyToValue[1] or not keyToValue[2] then continue end
--keyToValue[1] = "Entry1"
--keyToValue[2] = "CoolText"
backToDictionary[keyToValue[1]] = keyToValue[2]
--we are basically doing backToDictionary["Entry1"] = "CoolText"
end
Written on DevForum, untested. This code might error.
What this does is some string logic to separate out the keys and values to put them back in the dictionary by assigning the value to the index before the ": ".
this did work, it and seems alot simplier than whatever those other scripts i looked at were doing.
just one more thing though?
if i had a entry somewhat like this
local EntryTable = {
["Entry1"] = "CoolText",
["Entry2"] = "NotSoCoolText",
["Entry3"] = {["FirstEntry"] = "BoringEntry", ["SecondEntry"] = "SuperCoolText"}
}
im just guessing but would it be something like this to turn it into a string?
for Key, Value in pairs(EntryTable) do
if typeof(Value) ~= "table" then
String..=`{Key}:{Value} | `
elseif typeof(Value) == "table" then
String..=`{Key}:(`
for Key2, Value2 in pairs(Value) do
String..=`{Key2}:{Value2} | `
end
String..=") | "
end
end
if this is how then ill just need a bit of time to figure out how to revert it back to dictionary format
(edit)
used typeof instead of value == table
(edit2)
did some of my own research and got this code now
local EntryTable = {
["Entry1"] = "CoolText",
["Entry2"] = "NotS oCoolText",
["Entry3"] = {["FirstEntry"] = "BoringEntry", ["SecondEntry"] = "SuperCoolText"}
}
local String = ""
for Key, Value in pairs(EntryTable) do
if typeof(Value) ~= "table" then
String..=`{Key}:{Value} | `
elseif typeof(Value) == "table" then
String..=`{Key}:(`
for Key2, Value2 in pairs(Value) do
String..=`{Key2}:{Value2} | `
end
String..=") | "
end
end
print(String)
local Values = {}
local Pattern = "(%w+:%b())"
local Pattern2 = "(%w+:(%w+)[%w%s]+)"
for Key, Value in string.gmatch(String, Pattern) do
if Key then
table.insert(Values, Key)
local split = string.split(String, Key)
String = ""
for i, v in pairs(split) do
String..=v
end
end
end
for Key, Value in string.gmatch(String, Pattern2) do
if Key then
table.insert(Values, Key)
end
end
i know get to the result of this
Value table)It would be better to do this with a recursive function to convert to and from a dictionary, but itâs quite easy to split this one.
First, you need to search for Entry1, the first entry:
local entryFind = String:find("Entry1") --this is a number
and then, you can simply perform the split:
local entry1OnlyData = String:sub(entryFind):split(":")[2] --> CoolText
Written on DevForum, untested. Code may error.
Keep in mind you need to subtract the find so that the string starts with âEntry1â.
For example, if I had âHello Worldâ and I subtracted the first 6 letters, I only get âWorldâ. That is what this code is doing.
for this to work wouldnât you need the name of the key first?, what if the keyâs names were randomized or something (not sure why they would be (Probably since pairs can randomize the table to some extent)) wouldnât i still need to figure out what the keyname before the : is?
Yes, you would. Though, Iâm not sure what other possible method you would do to index these and not know the name.
mean there probably is some sort of method to get all the letters behind the colon but then you would have to do even more to account for the spaces and stuff
and for some of the stuff Iâm doing
(["Entry3"] = {["FirstEntry"] = "BoringEntry", ["SecondEntry"] = "SuperCoolText"})
id have to find a way so it doesnât grab the values within the parenthesis
on another note going back to this
i could use this in a way where i get a pattern like "(%w+:)" and just get the resulting text from this (if im using the already made Value table from before) and just use the method you said above
Here is a code snippet with a compiler and decompiler:
local HttpService = game:GetService("HttpService")
local NEW_LINE_TRIGGERS = {
",", "{"
}
local NEW_BREAK_TRIGGERS = {
"}", "]"
}
local function CompileJSONTable(Table)
local Result = HttpService:JSONEncode(Table)
for _, Trigger in NEW_LINE_TRIGGERS do
Result = Result:gsub(Trigger, Trigger .. "\n")
end
for _, Trigger in NEW_BREAK_TRIGGERS do
Result = Result:gsub(Trigger, "\n" .. Trigger)
end
return Result
end
local function DecompileJSONTable(String)
for _, Trigger in NEW_LINE_TRIGGERS do
String = String:gsub(Trigger .. "\n", Trigger)
end
for _, Trigger in NEW_BREAK_TRIGGERS do
String = String:gsub("\n" .. Trigger, Trigger)
end
return HttpService:JSONDecode(String)
end
If youâre only adding newlines then you donât need to remove them for HttpService:JSONDecode() to work.
Also you should make it add some indentation so itâs easier to read.
(also add [ to NEW_LINE_TRIGGERS?)
I tried, but Lua doesnât like that with gsub.
seems more compact, although i dont really understand a single thing from this tbh
especially looking at the output here
looks real complex
atleast for me since i dont understand much about string manipulation and stuff
did this and got this
for Key, Value in string.gmatch(String, Pattern) do
if Key then
table.insert(Values, Key)
local split = string.split(String, Key)
String = ""
for i, v in pairs(split) do
String..=v
end
end
end
for Key, Value in string.gmatch(String, Pattern2) do
if Key then
table.insert(Values, Key)
end
end
if #Values > 1 then
for i, v in ipairs(Values) do
local Key = string.match(v, ("[%w%s]+"))
local SplitNumber = string.find(v, ":")
local Split = string.sub(v, SplitNumber)
if not string.find(Split, "(%b())") then
local Value = string.split(Split, ":")[2]
RemadeTable[Key] = Value
end
end
end
althought i got 2 issues with it right now
local Key = string.match(v, ("[%w%s]+")) does not get the full key if it has spaces in it for some reason
local Value = string.split(Split, ":")[2] the value has a space at the end of it dont know why 