Is there any difference between
local splitPathFileExtension = function (res) end and
function splitPathFileExtension(res) end ? I understand in the first case this function is anonymous but this is the only difference?
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2 Answers
They are almost exactly the same thing (other than the fact that you've specified the first function as local and not the second one.)
See the manual on function definitions:
The statement
function f () body endcorresponds to
f = function () body endThe statement
function t.a.b.c.f () body endtranslates to
t.a.b.c.f = function () body endThe statement
local function f () body endtranslates to
local f; f = function () body endnot to
local f = function () body end(This only makes a difference when the body of the function contains references to f.)
1 Comment
Tom Blodget
Should be: "you've specified the first variable as local". Functions are values, so they don't have a scope category.
All functions are anonymous, they don't have names. A function definition is in fact an assignment statement that creates a value of type function and assigns it to a variable.
The second code is syntactic sugar that's equivalent to:
splitPathFileExtension = function (res) end So, other than the first is local while the second is global, there's no difference between the two ways of function definition.
1 Comment
Tom Blodget
Note: You have to take the de-sugaring exactly as stated. A variable is global only when it's not local. For example, taking the two assignment statements from the question together in sequence, the local variable splitPathFileExtension is assigned twice.