Why is this string not splitting in lua

So I am working on a project and I need to split a string that would look something like this:

if (x == 2){ output("Hello") }

This is my code:

local function splitIfStatement(str)
    local t = {}
    t[1] = ""
    t[2] = ""
    t[3] = ""
    local firstSplit = false
    local secondSplit = false
    local thirdSplit = false
    str:gsub(".", function(c)
        if c == "(" then
            firstSplit = true
        end
        if firstSplit == true then
            if c == "=" then
                firstSplit = false
                secondSplit = true
            else
                if c == "(" then
                else
                    t[1] = t[1] .. c
                end
            end
        end
        if secondSplit == true then
            if c == ")" then
                secondSplit = false
                thirdSplit = true
            else
                if c == "=" then
                else
                    t[2] = t[2] .. c
                end
            end
        end
    end)
    return t
end

I need to split the string at "(" so t[1] is only equal to "x" and t[2] is equal to 2 and then t[3] is equal to the "output()"

But when I run my code(note I haven't added the t[3]) t[1] returns: "x "Hello") }" and t[2] returns 2 like it should.

Anyways why isn't the split function working on the first split but it works on the second.

Thanks!

Solution

In your loop you set firstSplit true if it hits a ( this happens in 2 places in your example, before x and right before "Hello"

you can fix this by setting firstSplit true and ignore the leading if ( before you beginning the loop. Then you allow the logic you have to handle the rest.

I also notice you dont have any logic that references t[3] right now.

That all said you really should use a pattern to parse something like this.

local function splitIfStatement(str)
    t = {str:match("if%s*%((%w+)%s*[=<>]+%s*(%d+)%)%s*{(.+)}")}
    return t
end

this pattern is very narrow and expects a specific type of if statement, you can learn more about lua patterns here: Understanding Lua Patterns