Operators

Comparison

print(5 == 5)
print(5 ~= 3)
print(10 > 9)
print(3 <= 3)
print("apple" < "banana")
print("10" == 10)
print({} == {})

true
true
true
true
true
false
false

• Not equal is ~=, not !=.
• == never converts types: the string "10" isn't equal to the number 10.
• Tables are compared by identity: two separate empty tables are different objects.

Logical

and, or, and not (words, not symbols):

local age, hasTicket = 20, true
print(age >= 18 and hasTicket)
print(age < 13 or age > 65)
print(not hasTicket)
print(not nil)

true
false
false
true

Other operators

print(#"hello")
print(#{10, 20, 30})
print(6 & 3, 6 | 3, 6 ~ 3, 1 << 4)

5
3
2	7	5	16

Precedence

From highest to lowest: ^, unary (not, #, -, ~), * / // %, + -, .., shifts, &, ~, |, comparisons, and, or. When in doubt, use parentheses. Note that ^ binds tighter than unary minus: -2 ^ 2 is -4.0.