lua methods starting with a double underscore

[kartik14]

Hi,

I would like to know the significance of lua methods beginning with an underscore.. for example __init().. Thanks !!

[gusano79]

Hi,

I would like to know the significance of lua methods beginning with an underscore.. for example __init().. Thanks !!

The only place I'm aware of that double underscores mean anything to Lua is in metatables.

Basically they allow you to create custom behavior for certain object; it's an operator overloading feature.

For example, you create a struct or class in your C/C++ code, add it to a Lua state as a userdata object, add a Lua function to the object's metatable with the key "__add", and then that function will be called when your objects are added in Lua with the + operator. The section of the Lua Reference Manual I linked explains in more detail.

[kartik14]

Thanks..