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Creating Dictionary-Style Tabl

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's Lua journey — lesson 65 of 90.

To create a dictionary-style table, you use curly braces {} and specify each key-value pair using the ["key"] = value syntax:

local student = {
    ["name"] = "Sarah",
    ["age"] = 20,
    ["major"] = "Computer Science"
}

Each key must be enclosed in square brackets and quotes, followed by the equals sign and the corresponding value. You can mix different data types for the values - strings, numbers, booleans, or even other tables.

local gameCharacter = {
    ["playerName"] = "Hero",
    ["level"] = 5,
    ["isAlive"] = true
}

To access a value from a dictionary-style table, use bracket notation — write the table name followed by the key in square brackets and quotes:

print(gameCharacter["playerName"])  -- prints: Hero
print(gameCharacter["level"])       -- prints: 5

Challenge

Easy

Create a video game character profile using dictionary-style table syntax. Create a table named character that represents a player's avatar with the following key-value pairs: ["name"] should be assigned the string "Phoenix", ["class"] should be assigned the string "Mage", ["level"] should be assigned the number 12, and ["experience"] should be assigned the number 2850. After creating the table, print the character's class using bracket notation.

Try it yourself

-- TODO: Write your code here
-- Create the character table with the required key-value pairs
-- Then print the character's class using bracket notation

Test yourself

This lesson includes a short quiz. Start the lesson to answer it and track your progress.

All lessons in Fundamentals

1Introduction

The Language Hello World!Comments

4Operators 2 Relational & Logic

Equality Operators Relational Operators The 'and' Operator The 'or' Operator The 'not' Operator Short-Circuit Evaluation Truthy and Falsy Values Recap - Simple Logic

7Basic Conditional Logic

The if-then Statement The if-then-else Statement The elseif Statement Recap - Treasure Chest

10Tables Part 1: List-Style

What is a Table?Creating a Table Accessing Elements by Index Modifying Elements by Index The Length Operator '#'table.insert()table.remove()Recap - Manage Party Members

13Project: Simple Potion Shop

Project Setup Adding a Potion

Project lesson

Displaying the Inventory

Project lesson

Calculating Total Stock Value

Project lesson

Finding a Specific Potion

Project lesson

Selling a Potion

Project lesson

2Variables and Data Types

What is a Variable?Numbers Strings Booleans The Value 'nil'The type() Function Naming Conventions Recap - Character Profile

5Basic Output

Printing Literals Printing Variables Printing Multiple Values Combining Strings & Variables The tostring() Function Input Cast Recap - Status Report Recap - Till 120

8String Manipulation Basics

string.len()string.upper & string.lower string.sub()string.rep()string.find()Recap - Format Username

11Tables 2: Dictionary-Style

Key-Value PairsCreating Dictionary-Style TablAccessing - Bracket Notation Accessing with Dot Notation Adding and Modifying Pairs Removing Pairs with nil Recap - Item Properties

14Variable Scope

Global Variables Local Variables Why Use Local Variables?Scope and Blocks Recap - Scope Puzzle

3Operators 1 Arithmetic & Conc

Arithmetic Operators Modulo Operator Exponentiation Operator String Concatenation Operator Precedence Recap - Simple Calculations

6Project: Character Stats Disp

Welcome Message Declare Character Stats

Project lesson

Display Basic Stats

Project lesson

Add a Boolean Flag

Project lesson

Project lesson

9Functions Basics

Declaring a Function Calling a Function Functions with Parameters Functions with Multiple Params The 'return' Statement Recap - Area Calculator

12Loops Basics

The while Loop The repeat-until Loop The Numeric for Loop for Loop with a Step The 'break' Statement Recap - Countdown

15Final Challenges

Recap - Player Turn Recap - Simple Database Recap - Sum of Even Numbers