API ipairs

Returns an iterator triple that allows the Lua for loop to iterate over the array portion of a table. iteratorFunc, table, startState = ipairs(table)

local fruits={"apple","orange","banana","kiwi"}

for index,value in ipairs(fruits) do DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(tostring(index).." : "..value) end

Result:

1 : apple 2 : orange 3 : banana 4 : kiwi

would be output to the chat window.

Note that ipairs starts at index 1 and stops counting as soon as it reaches a nil value. Example:

> t = { [0] = "zero", --will not be counted [1] = "one", --will be counted; 1 [2] = "two", --will be counted; 2 [3] = "three", --will be counted; 3 ["four"] = "four", --will not be counted; returns 3 [5] = "five" } --will never be reached > for i,v in ipairs(t) do print(i..":"..v) end 1:one 2:two 3:three

Note that t[0] is never reached because it starts counting at [1], t["four"] is never reached because it is not an array index, and t[5] is never reached because the iterator ceases when it checks t[4] and finds a nil value.