Tables

Squirrel 2.2

Tables

Tables are associative containers implemented as pairs of key/value (called slot); values can be any possible type and keys any type except 'null'. Tables are squirrel's skeleton, delegation and many other features are all implemented through this type; even the environment, where global variables are stored, is a table (known as root table).

Construction

Tables are created through the table constructor (see Table constructor)

Slot creation

Adding a new slot in a existing table is done through the "new slot" operator '<-'; this operator behaves like a normal assignment except that if the slot does not exists it will be created.

local a={}
			

The following line will cause an exception because the slot named 'newslot' does not exist in the table ‘a’

a.newslot = 1234
			

this will succeed:

a.newslot <- 1234;
			

or

a[1] <- "I'm the value of the new slot";
			

Slot deletion

        
          exp:= delete derefexp
        
      

Deletion of a slot is done through the keyword delete; the result of this expression will be the value of the deleted slot.

a <- {
    test1=1234
    deleteme="now"
}

delete a.test1
print(delete a.deleteme); //this will print the string "now"