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Destructuring

Destructuring is a better way to assign local variables from expressions that return a table.

Array destructuring​

Assuming we have this table:

local t = { 3, 6, 9 }

This is how we would assign each value to variables called a, b, and c using the Lua and Pluto ways:

Lua way
local a, b, c = table.unpack(t)
Pluto way
local [a, b, c] = t

Table destructuring​

Assuming we have this table:

local t = {
    name = "John",
    age = 42
}

This is how we would assign each field to a variable of the same name using the Lua and Pluto ways:

Lua way
local name = t.name
local age = t.age
Pluto way
local { name, age } = t

Different variable name​

Assuming we have the same table as above, this is how we'd assign the name and age fields to n and a variables, respectively, using the Lua and Pluto ways:

Lua way
local n = t.name
local a = t.age
Pluto way
local { n = name, a = age } = t

Standard Library​

Table destructuring can be used to require multiple standard library modules at once using the '*' module:

local { base64, json } = require "*"