Lua - Error repeating a function? - function

Question

I'm working on an 'impossible' game, where you are basically asked a bunch of trick questions.
The first time I run the script, everything works perfectly. If the user decides to play again by typing in 'y', it will re-run the mainScript function. However, the script automatically re-runs the mainScript after finishing it a second time, without taking user input. I might be making a simple mistake, I'm not sure. Here is the script: (Sorry, I know it is kind of long)
math.randomseed(os.time())
local lives = 3
local points = 0
Questions = {
{"What is the magic word?", "A) Please", "B) Abra-Cadabra", "C) Lotion", "D) Cheese", "c"},
{"Does anyone love you?", "A) Yes", "B) No", "C) Everyone loves me!", "D) My mother does", "b"},
{"How many fingers do you have?", "A) None", "B) Eight", "C) Seventeen", "D) Ten", "d"},
{"What is 1 + 1?", "A) Window", "B) Door", "C) Two", "D) That's a stupid question", "a"}
}
savedQuestions = {} --Load the Questions table into savedQuestions
for i, v in pairs(Questions) do
table.insert(savedQuestions, v)
end
function loadTable() --Load the savedQuestions into Questions
for i = 1, #savedQuestions do
table.insert(Questions, savedQuestions[i])
end
end
function waitForStart()
local chk = io.read() tostring(chk)
if (chk:sub(1, 5)):lower() == "start" then
return true
end
waitForStart()
end
function lookForAnswer(ans)
table.remove(Questions, number)
local input = io.read() tostring(input)
if input:lower() == ans then
points = points + 1
return true
end
lives = lives - 1
return false
end
function mainScript()
lives = 3
points = 0
print("Welcome to the Impossible quiz!")
print("Type 'start' when you are ready to begin\n")
waitForStart() io.write("\n")
for i = 1, #Questions do
number = math.random(1, #Questions)
local prob = Questions[number]
local q = prob[1]
local a = prob[6]
print(q)
print(prob[2] .. "\n" .. prob[3] .. "\n" .. prob[4] .. "\n" .. prob[5] .. "\n")
if lookForAnswer(a) then
print("Correct! Points: " .. points .. " Lives: " .. lives .. "\n\n")
else
print("WRONG! Points: " .. points .. " Lives: " .. lives .. "\n\n")
if lives <= 0 then
return false
end
end
end
return true
end
function checkForReplay()
print("Would you like to play again? (Y / N)")
local chk = io.read() tostring(chk)
if (chk:sub(1, 1)):lower() == "y" then
return true
end
return false
end
function checkWin()
if mainScript() then
print("You won!")
print("Points: " .. points .. "\n")
if checkForReplay() then
Questions = {}
loadTable()
mainScript()
else
exit()
end
else
print("You lose!")
print("Points: " .. points .. "\n")
if checkForReplay() then
Questions = {}
loadTable()
mainScript()
else
exit()
end
end
end
while true do
checkWin()
end

Answer 1

You should factor out the "startover" logic into the loop, you would see better. Then you notice how there is common code in both if chunks of your checkWin, factor that out too:
function checkWin()
if mainScript() then
print("You won!")
else
print("You lose!")
end
print("Points: " .. points .. "\n")
if not checkForReplay() then
exit()
end
end
while true do
checkWin()
-- if you get here you have not exited so start over:
Questions = {}
loadTable()
mainScript() -- oops! what's that doing here?
end
Note also that it is better to let the script return than call os.exit() (assuming that is what exit() is in your code -- see for example How to terminate Lua script?):
function checkWin()
if mainScript() then
print("You won!")
else
print("You lose!")
end
print("Points: " .. points .. "\n")
return checkForReplay()
end
local playAgain = checkWin()
while playAgain do
Questions = {}
loadTable()
playAgain = checkWin()
end