Lua:
Working with JSON
How to:
Lua does not include a built-in library for JSON processing. Therefore, one of the popular third-party libraries is dkjson, which you can easily use for JSON encoding and decoding. First, make sure to install dkjson, e.g., through LuaRocks (luarocks install dkjson), and then follow the examples below.
Decoding JSON to Lua Table
local dkjson = require "dkjson"
local jsonString = '{"name": "Lua Programmer", "age": 30, "languages": ["Lua", "JavaScript"]}'
local luaTable, pos, err = dkjson.decode(jsonString, 1, nil)
if err then
print ("Error:", err)
else
print("Name:", luaTable.name) -- Output: Name: Lua Programmer
print("Age:", luaTable.age) -- Output: Age: 30
print("Languages:", table.concat(luaTable.languages, ", ")) -- Output: Languages: Lua, JavaScript
endEncoding Lua Table to JSON
local dkjson = require "dkjson"
local luaTable = {
name = "Lua Programmer",
age = 30,
languages = { "Lua", "JavaScript" }
}
local jsonString = dkjson.encode(luaTable, { indent = true })
print(jsonString)Sample output for encoding:
{
"age": 30,
"languages": [
"Lua",
"JavaScript"
],
"name": "Lua Programmer"
}These simple examples demonstrate how to work with JSON in Lua, making it easy to integrate Lua applications with various web technologies and external APIs. Remember, while dkjson is used in these examples, other libraries like cjson and RapidJSON can also be suitable alternatives depending on your project’s needs.