[lua] How do I know if a table is an array?

转自: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7526223/how-do-i-know-if-a-table-is-an-array

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The simplest algorithm to differentiate between arrays/non-arrays is this one: local function is_array(t) local i = 0 for _ in pairs(t) do i = i + 1 if t[i] == nil then return false end end return true end Explanation here: http://ericjmritz.name/2014/02/26/lua-is_array/ That said, you will still have issues with empty tables - are they "arrays" or "hashes"? For the particular case of serializing json, what I do is marking arrays with a field in their metatable. -- use this when deserializing local function mark_as_array(t) setmetatable(t, {__isarray = true}) end -- use this when serializing local function is_array(t) local mt = getmetatable(t) return mt.__isarray end