What is Lua's default behavior when you combine ands and ors in a statement?

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#1

E.g., how would Lua handle a statement like this?

if playerLikesApples and playerLikesOranges or playerLikesCherries then
     -- do something
end

Would it be treated like this:

if (playerLikesApples and playerLikesOranges) or (playerLikesCherries) then
     -- The player must like apples and oranges for the statement to execute, or they can like cherries.
end

Or like this:

if (playerLikesApples) and (playerLikesOranges or playerLikesCherries) then
     -- The player must like apples, and the player can like either oranges or cherries for the statement to execute.
end

Can this behavior be forced with parentheses?

#2

Lua’s own website answers all of your questions. Programming in Lua : 3.5

To answer your questions:

  1. Yes. a and b or c is treated as (a and b) or c
  2. Yes. Parentheses have a high priority.
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#3

Yeah, but it would’ve taken me a 5-10 minutes to find it myself, somehow you guys always find it within 30 seconds.

Thanks!

(Also, looks like I’m not alone, their own manual says it can be a bit confusing. “you will have the same doubt when you read the code again.”)

#4

I highly recommend using parentheses if doing this anyway to avoid confusion for you and others.

2 Likes
#5

They are encouraging you to actively use parentheses for logic operators. It will solve common errors as well as make your code more readable. Essentially treats it as a math equation with orders of operation; you always do the parentheses first.

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