Module:TableTools

This module includes a number of functions for dealing with Lua tables. It is a meta-module, meant to be called from other Lua modules, and should not be called directly from #invoke.

Loading the module

To use any of the functions, first you must load the module.

local TableTools = require('Module:TableTools')

isPositiveInteger

TableTools.isPositiveInteger(value)

Returns true if value is a positive integer, and false if not. Although it doesn't operate on tables, it is included here as it is useful for determining whether a given table key is in the array part or the hash part of a table.

isNan

TableTools.isNan(value)

Returns true if value is a NaN value, and false if not. Although it doesn't operate on tables, it is included here as it is useful for determining whether a value can be a valid table key. (Lua will generate an error if a NaN value is used as a table key.)

shallowClone

TableTools.shallowClone(t)

Returns a clone of a table. The value returned is a new table, but all subtables and functions are shared. Metamethods are respected, but the returned table will have no metatable of its own. If you want to make a new table with no shared subtables and with metatables transferred, you can use mw.clone instead. If you want to make a new table with no shared subtables and without metatables transferred, use deepCopy with the noMetatable option.

removeDuplicates

TableTools.removeDuplicates(t)

Removes duplicate values from an array. This function is only designed to work with standard arrays: keys that are not positive integers are ignored, as are all values after the first nil value. (For arrays containing nil values, you can use compressSparseArray first.) The function tries to preserve the order of the array: the earliest non-unique value is kept, and all subsequent duplicate values are removed. For example, for the table Template:Code removeDuplicates will return Template:Code.

numKeys

TableTools.numKeys(t)

Takes a table t and returns an array containing the numbers of any positive integer keys that have non-nil values, sorted in numerical order. For example, for the table Template:Code, numKeys will return Template:Code.

affixNums

TableTools.affixNums(t, prefix, suffix)

Takes a table t and returns an array containing the numbers of keys with the optional prefix prefix and the optional suffix suffix. For example, for the table Template:Code and the prefix 'a', affixNums will return Template:Code. All characters in prefix and suffix are interpreted literally.

See Template:Mfl and Template:Mfl for doing something similar from a wiki template.

numData

TableTools.numData(t, compress)

Given a table with keys like "foo1", "bar1", "foo2", and "baz2", returns a table of subtables in the format Template:Code. Keys that don't end with an integer are stored in a subtable named "other". The compress option compresses the table so that it can be iterated over with ipairs.

compressSparseArray

TableTools.compressSparseArray(t)

Takes an array t with one or more nil values, and removes the nil values while preserving the order, so that the array can be safely traversed with ipairs. Any keys that are not positive integers are removed. For example, for the table Template:Code, compressSparseArray will return Template:Code.

See Template:Mfl for doing something similar from a wiki template.

sparseIpairs

TableTools.sparseIpairs(t)

This is an iterator function for traversing a sparse array t. It is similar to ipairs, but will continue to iterate until the highest numerical key, whereas ipairs may stop after the first nil value. Any keys that are not positive integers are ignored.

Usually sparseIpairs is used in a generic for loop.

for i, v in TableTools.sparseIpairs(t) do
   -- code block
end

Note that sparseIpairs uses the pairs function in its implementation. Although some table keys appear to be ignored, all table keys are accessed when it is run.

size

TableTools.size(t)

Finds the size of a key/value pair table (associative array). For example, for Template:Code, size will return 2. The function will also work on arrays, but for arrays it is more efficient to use the # operator. Note that to find the size, this function uses the pairs function to iterate through all of the keys.

keysToList

TableTools.keysToList(t, keySort, checked)

Returns a list of the keys in a table, sorted using either a default comparison function or a custom keySort function, which follows the same rules as the comp function supplied to table.sort. If keySort is false, no sorting is done. Set checked to true to skip the internal type checking.

sortedPairs

TableTools.sortedPairs(t, keySort)

Iterates through a table, with the keys sorted using the keysToList function. If there are only numerical keys, sparseIpairs is probably more efficient.

isArray

TableTools.isArray(value)

Returns true if value is a table and all keys are consecutive integers starting at 1.

isArrayLike

TableTools.isArrayLike(value)

Returns true if value is iterable and all keys are consecutive integers starting at 1.

invert

TableTools.invert(arr)

Transposes the keys and values in an array. For example, Template:Code yields Template:Code.

listToSet

TableTools.listToSet(arr)

Creates a set from the array part of the table arr. Indexing the set by any of the values of the array returns true. For example, Template:Code yields Template:Code.

deepCopy

TableTools.deepCopy(orig, noMetatable, alreadySeen)

Creates a copy of the table orig. As with mw.clone, all values that are not functions are duplicated and the identity of tables is preserved. If noMetatable is true, then the metatable (if any) is not copied. Can copy tables loaded with mw.loadData.

Similar to mw.clone, but mw.clone cannot copy tables loaded with mw.loadData and does not allow metatables not to be copied.

sparseConcat

TableTools.sparseConcat(t, sep, i, j)

Concatenates all values in the table that are indexed by a positive integer, in order. For example, Template:Code yields Template:Code and Template:Code yields Template:Code.

length

TableTools.length(t, prefix)

Finds the length of an array or of a quasi-array with keys with an optional prefix such as "data1", "data2", etc. It uses an exponential search algorithm to find the length, so as to use as few table lookups as possible.

This algorithm is useful for arrays that use metatables (e.g. frame.args) and for quasi-arrays. For normal arrays, just use the # operator, as it is implemented in C and will be quicker.

inArray

TableTools.inArray(array, searchElement)
TableTools.inArray(array, searchElement, fromIndex)

Returns true if searchElement is a member of the array array, and false otherwise. Equivalent to the javascript Array.prototype.includes() function, except fromIndex is 1-indexed instead of zero-indexed.

fromIndex

fromIndex is the optional 1-based index at which to start searching. If fromIndex is not present, all values in the array will be searched and the array will be treated as a table/associative array (it will be iterated over using pairs()).

If fromIndex is present and an integer, the array is assumed to be a conventional array/sequence/list (indexed with consecutive integer keys starting at 1, and interated over using ipairs()). Only the values whose index is fromIndex or higher will be searched.

In the following examples, #array represents the length of the integer-keyed portion of the array.

• If fromIndex < 0 it will count back from the end of the array, e.g. a value of -1 will only search the last integer-keyed element in the array. If fromIndex <= (-1 * #array), the entire integer-keyed portion of the array will be searched.
• If fromIndex = 0 it will be treated as a 1 and the entire integer-keyed portion of the array will be searched.
• If fromIndex > #array, the array is not searched and false is returned.

merge

TableTools.merge(...)

Given the arrays, returns an array containing the elements of each input array in sequence.

extend

TableTools.extend(arr1, arr2)

Extends the first array in place by appending all elements from the second array.

See also

• Template:Ml

---

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--                                   TableTools                                   --
--                                                                                --
-- This module includes a number of functions for dealing with Lua tables.        --
-- It is a meta-module, meant to be called from other Lua modules, and should not --
-- be called directly from #invoke.                                               --
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

local libraryUtil = require('libraryUtil')

local p = {}

-- Define often-used variables and functions.
local floor = math.floor
local infinity = math.huge
local checkType = libraryUtil.checkType
local checkTypeMulti = libraryUtil.checkTypeMulti

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- isPositiveInteger
--
-- This function returns true if the given value is a positive integer, and false
-- if not. Although it doesn't operate on tables, it is included here as it is
-- useful for determining whether a given table key is in the array part or the
-- hash part of a table.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.isPositiveInteger(v)
	return type(v) == 'number' and v >= 1 and floor(v) == v and v < infinity
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- isNan
--
-- This function returns true if the given number is a NaN value, and false if
-- not. Although it doesn't operate on tables, it is included here as it is useful
-- for determining whether a value can be a valid table key. Lua will generate an
-- error if a NaN is used as a table key.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.isNan(v)
	return type(v) == 'number' and v ~= v
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- shallowClone
--
-- This returns a clone of a table. The value returned is a new table, but all
-- subtables and functions are shared. Metamethods are respected, but the returned
-- table will have no metatable of its own.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.shallowClone(t)
	checkType('shallowClone', 1, t, 'table')
	local ret = {}
	for k, v in pairs(t) do
		ret[k] = v
	end
	return ret
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- removeDuplicates
--
-- This removes duplicate values from an array. Non-positive-integer keys are
-- ignored. The earliest value is kept, and all subsequent duplicate values are
-- removed, but otherwise the array order is unchanged.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.removeDuplicates(arr)
	checkType('removeDuplicates', 1, arr, 'table')
	local isNan = p.isNan
	local ret, exists = {}, {}
	for _, v in ipairs(arr) do
		if isNan(v) then
			-- NaNs can't be table keys, and they are also unique, so we don't need to check existence.
			ret[#ret + 1] = v
		elseif not exists[v] then
			ret[#ret + 1] = v
			exists[v] = true
		end
	end
	return ret
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- numKeys
--
-- This takes a table and returns an array containing the numbers of any numerical
-- keys that have non-nil values, sorted in numerical order.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.numKeys(t)
	checkType('numKeys', 1, t, 'table')
	local isPositiveInteger = p.isPositiveInteger
	local nums = {}
	for k in pairs(t) do
		if isPositiveInteger(k) then
			nums[#nums + 1] = k
		end
	end
	table.sort(nums)
	return nums
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- affixNums
--
-- This takes a table and returns an array containing the numbers of keys with the
-- specified prefix and suffix. For example, for the table
-- {a1 = 'foo', a3 = 'bar', a6 = 'baz'} and the prefix "a", affixNums will return
-- {1, 3, 6}.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.affixNums(t, prefix, suffix)
	checkType('affixNums', 1, t, 'table')
	checkType('affixNums', 2, prefix, 'string', true)
	checkType('affixNums', 3, suffix, 'string', true)

	local function cleanPattern(s)
		-- Cleans a pattern so that the magic characters ()%.[]*+-?^$ are interpreted literally.
		return s:gsub('([%(%)%%%.%[%]%*%+%-%?%^%$])', '%%%1')
	end

	prefix = prefix or ''
	suffix = suffix or ''
	prefix = cleanPattern(prefix)
	suffix = cleanPattern(suffix)
	local pattern = '^' .. prefix .. '([1-9]%d*)' .. suffix .. '$'

	local nums = {}
	for k in pairs(t) do
		if type(k) == 'string' then
			local num = mw.ustring.match(k, pattern)
			if num then
				nums[#nums + 1] = tonumber(num)
			end
		end
	end
	table.sort(nums)
	return nums
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- numData
--
-- Given a table with keys like {"foo1", "bar1", "foo2", "baz2"}, returns a table
-- of subtables in the format
-- {[1] = {foo = 'text', bar = 'text'}, [2] = {foo = 'text', baz = 'text'}}.
-- Keys that don't end with an integer are stored in a subtable named "other". The
-- compress option compresses the table so that it can be iterated over with
-- ipairs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.numData(t, compress)
	checkType('numData', 1, t, 'table')
	checkType('numData', 2, compress, 'boolean', true)
	local ret = {}
	for k, v in pairs(t) do
		local prefix, num = mw.ustring.match(tostring(k), '^([^0-9]*)([1-9][0-9]*)$')
		if num then
			num = tonumber(num)
			local subtable = ret[num] or {}
			if prefix == '' then
				-- Positional parameters match the blank string; put them at the start of the subtable instead.
				prefix = 1
			end
			subtable[prefix] = v
			ret[num] = subtable
		else
			local subtable = ret.other or {}
			subtable[k] = v
			ret.other = subtable
		end
	end
	if compress then
		local other = ret.other
		ret = p.compressSparseArray(ret)
		ret.other = other
	end
	return ret
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- compressSparseArray
--
-- This takes an array with one or more nil values, and removes the nil values
-- while preserving the order, so that the array can be safely traversed with
-- ipairs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.compressSparseArray(t)
	checkType('compressSparseArray', 1, t, 'table')
	local ret = {}
	local nums = p.numKeys(t)
	for _, num in ipairs(nums) do
		ret[#ret + 1] = t[num]
	end
	return ret
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- sparseIpairs
--
-- This is an iterator for sparse arrays. It can be used like ipairs, but can
-- handle nil values.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.sparseIpairs(t)
	checkType('sparseIpairs', 1, t, 'table')
	local nums = p.numKeys(t)
	local i = 0
	local lim = #nums
	return function ()
		i = i + 1
		if i <= lim then
			local key = nums[i]
			return key, t[key]
		else
			return nil, nil
		end
	end
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- size
--
-- This returns the size of a key/value pair table. It will also work on arrays,
-- but for arrays it is more efficient to use the # operator.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.size(t)
	checkType('size', 1, t, 'table')
	local i = 0
	for _ in pairs(t) do
		i = i + 1
	end
	return i
end

local function defaultKeySort(item1, item2)
	-- "number" < "string", so numbers will be sorted before strings.
	local type1, type2 = type(item1), type(item2)
	if type1 ~= type2 then
		return type1 < type2
	elseif type1 == 'table' or type1 == 'boolean' or type1 == 'function' then
		return tostring(item1) < tostring(item2)
	else
		return item1 < item2
	end
end
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- keysToList
--
-- Returns an array of the keys in a table, sorted using either a default
-- comparison function or a custom keySort function.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.keysToList(t, keySort, checked)
	if not checked then
		checkType('keysToList', 1, t, 'table')
		checkTypeMulti('keysToList', 2, keySort, {'function', 'boolean', 'nil'})
	end

	local arr = {}
	local index = 1
	for k in pairs(t) do
		arr[index] = k
		index = index + 1
	end

	if keySort ~= false then
		keySort = type(keySort) == 'function' and keySort or defaultKeySort
		table.sort(arr, keySort)
	end

	return arr
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- sortedPairs
--
-- Iterates through a table, with the keys sorted using the keysToList function.
-- If there are only numerical keys, sparseIpairs is probably more efficient.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.sortedPairs(t, keySort)
	checkType('sortedPairs', 1, t, 'table')
	checkType('sortedPairs', 2, keySort, 'function', true)

	local arr = p.keysToList(t, keySort, true)

	local i = 0
	return function ()
		i = i + 1
		local key = arr[i]
		if key ~= nil then
			return key, t[key]
		else
			return nil, nil
		end
	end
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- isArray
--
-- Returns true if the given value is a table and all keys are consecutive
-- integers starting at 1.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.isArray(v)
	if type(v) ~= 'table' then
		return false
	end
	local i = 0
	for _ in pairs(v) do
		i = i + 1
		if v[i] == nil then
			return false
		end
	end
	return true
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- isArrayLike
--
-- Returns true if the given value is iterable and all keys are consecutive
-- integers starting at 1.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.isArrayLike(v)
	if not pcall(pairs, v) then
		return false
	end
	local i = 0
	for _ in pairs(v) do
		i = i + 1
		if v[i] == nil then
			return false
		end
	end
	return true
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- invert
--
-- Transposes the keys and values in an array. For example, {"a", "b", "c"} ->
-- {a = 1, b = 2, c = 3}. Duplicates are not supported (result values refer to
-- the index of the last duplicate) and NaN values are ignored.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.invert(arr)
	checkType("invert", 1, arr, "table")
	local isNan = p.isNan
	local map = {}
	for i, v in ipairs(arr) do
		if not isNan(v) then
			map[v] = i
		end
	end

	return map
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- listToSet
--
-- Creates a set from the array part of the table. Indexing the set by any of the
-- values of the array returns true. For example, {"a", "b", "c"} ->
-- {a = true, b = true, c = true}. NaN values are ignored as Lua considers them
-- never equal to any value (including other NaNs or even themselves).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.listToSet(arr)
	checkType("listToSet", 1, arr, "table")
	local isNan = p.isNan
	local set = {}
	for _, v in ipairs(arr) do
		if not isNan(v) then
			set[v] = true
		end
	end

	return set
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- deepCopy
--
-- Recursive deep copy function. Preserves identities of subtables.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
local function _deepCopy(orig, includeMetatable, already_seen)
	if type(orig) ~= "table" then
		return orig
	end
	
	-- already_seen stores copies of tables indexed by the original table.
	local copy = already_seen[orig]
	if copy ~= nil then
		return copy
	end
	
	copy = {}
	already_seen[orig] = copy -- memoize before any recursion, to avoid infinite loops
	
	for orig_key, orig_value in pairs(orig) do
		copy[_deepCopy(orig_key, includeMetatable, already_seen)] = _deepCopy(orig_value, includeMetatable, already_seen)
	end
	
	if includeMetatable then
		local mt = getmetatable(orig)
		if mt ~= nil then
			setmetatable(copy, _deepCopy(mt, true, already_seen))
		end
	end
	
	return copy
end

function p.deepCopy(orig, noMetatable, already_seen)
	checkType("deepCopy", 3, already_seen, "table", true)
	return _deepCopy(orig, not noMetatable, already_seen or {})
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- sparseConcat
--
-- Concatenates all values in the table that are indexed by a number, in order.
-- sparseConcat{a, nil, c, d}  =>  "acd"
-- sparseConcat{nil, b, c, d}  =>  "bcd"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.sparseConcat(t, sep, i, j)
	local arr = {}

	local arr_i = 0
	for _, v in p.sparseIpairs(t) do
		arr_i = arr_i + 1
		arr[arr_i] = v
	end

	return table.concat(arr, sep, i, j)
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- length
--
-- Finds the length of an array, or of a quasi-array with keys such as "data1",
-- "data2", etc., using an exponential search algorithm. It is similar to the
-- operator #, but may return a different value when there are gaps in the array
-- portion of the table. Intended to be used on data loaded with mw.loadData. For
-- other tables, use #.
-- Note: #frame.args in frame object always be set to 0, regardless of  the number
-- of unnamed template parameters, so use this function for frame.args.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.length(t, prefix)
	-- requiring module inline so that [[Module:Exponential search]] which is
	-- only needed by this one function doesn't get millions of transclusions
	local expSearch = require("Module:Exponential search")
	checkType('length', 1, t, 'table')
	checkType('length', 2, prefix, 'string', true)
	return expSearch(function (i)
		local key
		if prefix then
			key = prefix .. tostring(i)
		else
			key = i
		end
		return t[key] ~= nil
	end) or 0
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- inArray
--
-- Returns true if searchElement is a member of the array, and false otherwise.
-- Equivalent to JavaScript array.includes(searchElement) or
-- array.includes(searchElement, fromIndex), except fromIndex is 1 indexed
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.inArray(array, searchElement, fromIndex)
	checkType("inArray", 1, array, "table")
	-- if searchElement is nil, error?

	fromIndex = tonumber(fromIndex)
	if fromIndex then
		if (fromIndex < 0) then
			fromIndex = #array + fromIndex + 1
		end
		if fromIndex < 1 then fromIndex = 1 end
		for _, v in ipairs({unpack(array, fromIndex)}) do
			if v == searchElement then
				return true
			end
		end
	else
		for _, v in pairs(array) do
			if v == searchElement then
				return true
			end
		end
	end
	return false
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- merge
--
-- Given the arrays, returns an array containing the elements of each input array
-- in sequence.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.merge(...)
	local arrays = {...}
	local ret = {}
	for i, arr in ipairs(arrays) do
		checkType('merge', i, arr, 'table')
		for _, v in ipairs(arr) do
			ret[#ret + 1] = v
		end
	end
	return ret
end

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- extend
--
-- Extends the first array in place by appending all elements from the second
-- array.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
function p.extend(arr1, arr2)
	checkType('extend', 1, arr1, 'table')
	checkType('extend', 2, arr2, 'table')

	for _, v in ipairs(arr2) do
		arr1[#arr1 + 1] = v
	end
end

return p