Lua Iterators Stateless Iterators

Example

Both pairs and ipairs represent stateless iterators. A stateless iterator uses only the generic for loop's control variable and invariant state to compute the iteration value.

Pairs Iterator

We can implement the stateless pairs iterator using the next function.

-- generator function which initializes the generic for loop
local function pairs(t)
  -- next is the iterator function
  -- t is the invariant state
  -- control variable is nil
  return next, t, nil
end

Ipairs Iterator

We can implement the stateless ipairs iterator in two separate functions.

-- function which performs the actual iteration
local function ipairs_iter(t, i)
  local i = i + 1  -- next index in the sequence (i is the control variable)
  local v = t[i]   -- next value (t is the invariant state)
  if v ~= nil then
    return i, v    -- index, value
  end
  return nil       -- no more values (termination)
end

-- generator function which initializes the generic for loop
local function ipairs(t)
  -- ipairs_iter is the iterator function
  -- t is the invariant state (table to be iterated)
  -- 0 is the control variable (first index)
  return ipairs_iter, t, 0
end

Character Iterator

We can create new stateless iterators by fulfilling the contract of the generic for loop.

-- function which performs the actual iteration
local function chars_iter(s, i)
  if i < #s then
    i = i + 1
    return i, s:sub(i, i)
  end
end

-- generator function which initializes the generic for loop
local function chars(s)
  return chars_iter, s, 0
end

-- used like pairs and ipairs
for i, c in chars 'abcde' do
    print(i, c) --> 1 a, 2 b, 3 c, 4 f, 5 e
end

Prime Numbers Iterator

This is one more simple example of a stateless iterator.

-- prime numbers iterator
local incr = {4, 1, 2, 0, 2}
function primes(s, p, d)
   s, p, d = s or math.huge, p and p + incr[p % 6] or 2, 1
   while p <= s do
      repeat
         d = d + incr[d % 6]
         if d*d > p then return p end
      until p % d == 0
      p, d = p + incr[p % 6], 1
   end
end

-- print all prime numbers <= 100
for p in primes, 100 do  -- passing in the iterator (do not call the iterator here)
   print(p)  -->  2  3  5  7  11 ... 97
end

-- print all primes in endless loop
for p in primes do  -- please note: "in primes", not "in primes()"
   print(p)
end