String formatting - Lua example

Strings and the String library. example from a Well House Consultants training course
More on Strings and the String library. [link]

This example is described in the following article(s):
• New Lua Examples - for last weeks delegates - [link]

Source code: kids Module: U104

--[[
String formatting in Lua uses the format function within the
string table. It's very similar to sprintf, as you can see in this
example, but it has a number of significant extensions ]]

names = {"Angie",'Bill',"Claire",'David',"Enid",'Fred',
        "Gina",'Harry',"Isobel",'James',"Katie",
        'Larry',"Melanie",'Nick',"Olive",'Peter'}

-- Distribute a gift amongst a number of people

gift = 12000

for nkids=1,#names do

        eachGets = gift / nkids
        -- name is 10 columns wide, left justified
        -- amount is 8 columns wide, of which 2 are after the decimal point
        line = string.format("%-10s is a kid with him they get %8.2f\n",
                        names[nkids],eachGets)
        io.write (line)
        end

--[[ sample output

[trainee@easterton toweb]$ lua kids
Angie is a kid with him they get 12000.00
Bill is a kid with him they get 6000.00
Claire is a kid with him they get 4000.00
David is a kid with him they get 3000.00
Enid is a kid with him they get 2400.00
Fred is a kid with him they get 2000.00
Gina is a kid with him they get 1714.29
Harry is a kid with him they get 1500.00
Isobel is a kid with him they get 1333.33
James is a kid with him they get 1200.00
Katie is a kid with him they get 1090.91
Larry is a kid with him they get 1000.00
Melanie is a kid with him they get 923.08
Nick is a kid with him they get 857.14
Olive is a kid with him they get 800.00
Peter is a kid with him they get 750.00
[trainee@easterton toweb]$

]]

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