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LUA(1)			    General Commands Manual			LUA(1)

NAME
       lua - Lua interpreter

SYNOPSIS
       lua [ options ] [ script	[ args ] ]

DESCRIPTION
       lua  is the standalone Lua interpreter.	It loads and executes Lua pro-
       grams, either in	textual	source form or	in  precompiled	 binary	 form.
       (Precompiled  binaries  are output by luac, the Lua compiler.)  lua can
       be used as a batch interpreter and also interactively.

       After handling the options, the Lua program in file  script  is	loaded
       and  executed.  The args	are available to script	as strings in a	global
       table named arg and also	as  arguments  to  its	main  function.	  When
       called  without arguments, lua behaves as lua -v	-i if the standard in-
       put is a	terminal, and as lua - otherwise.

       In interactive mode, lua	prompts	the user, reads	lines from  the	 stan-
       dard  input,  and executes them as they are read.  If the line contains
       an expression, then the line is evaluated and the  result  is  printed.
       If  a  line  does  not  contain	a complete statement, then a secondary
       prompt is displayed and lines are read until a  complete	 statement  is
       formed or a syntax error	is found.

       Before  handling	 command line options and scripts, lua checks the con-
       tents of	the environment	variables LUA_INIT_5_4 and LUA_INIT,  in  that
       order.	If  the	contents are of	the form '@filename', then filename is
       executed.  Otherwise, the contents are assumed to be  a	Lua  statement
       and is executed.	 When LUA_INIT_5_4 is defined, LUA_INIT	is ignored.

OPTIONS
       -e stat
	      execute statement	stat.

       -i     enter interactive	mode after executing script.

       -l mod require library mod into global mod.

       -l g=mod
	      require library mod into global g.

       -v     show version information.

       -E     ignore environment variables.

       -W     turn warnings on.

       --     stop handling options.

       -      stop handling options and	execute	the standard input as a	file.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The  following environment variables affect the execution of lua.  When
       defined,	the version-specific variants take priority and	 the  version-
       neutral variants	are ignored.

       LUA_INIT, LUA_INIT_5_4
	      Code to be executed before command line options and scripts.

       LUA_PATH, LUA_PATH_5_4
	      Initial  value  of  package.path,	 the  path  used by require to
	      search for Lua loaders.

       LUA_CPATH, LUA_CPATH_5_4
	      Initial value of package.cpath, the  path	 used  by  require  to
	      search for C loaders.

EXIT STATUS
       If  a  script calls os.exit, then lua exits with	the given exit status.
       Otherwise, lua exits with EXIT_SUCCESS (0 on POSIX  systems)  if	 there
       were no errors and with EXIT_FAILURE (1 on POSIX	systems) if there were
       errors.	Errors raised in interactive mode do not cause exits.

DIAGNOSTICS
       Error messages should be	self explanatory.

SEE ALSO
       luac(1)
       The  documentation  at  lua.org,	 especially section 7 of the reference
       manual.

AUTHORS
       R. Ierusalimschy, L. H. de Figueiredo, W. Celes

			 $Date:	2024/05/08 18:48:27 $			LUA(1)

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