Modular code structure in Lua

Question

I've been working with Love2d recently to build a Conway's Game of Life implementation.

I really like the framework, but I haven't been able to figure out how to modularize my code, which I feel is crucial to solid code structure.

What I'm wanting to do is be able to import a file that has different functions in it and be able to access that through my main lua file. I have been able to write scripts and run entire files, but not specific functions.

Is there a way to do this in Lua? If so, how?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You can use the require function in LÖVE. It works similarly to how it works in Lua.

-- lib.lua

local lib = {} -- table to store the functions

function lib.inc(x)
  return x + 1
end

return lib

And here is how you require it in another file (for example, main.lua) and use it:

local lib = require('lib')

function love.load()
  print(lib.inc(1)) -- prints '2' in the terminal
end