Module:Ordered pairs explained

local p =

local function __genOrderedIndex(t) local orderedIndex = for key in pairs(t) do table.insert(orderedIndex, key) end table.sort(orderedIndex) return orderedIndexend

local function orderedNext(t, state) -- Equivalent of the next function, but returns the keys in the alphabetic -- order. We use a temporary ordered key table that is stored in the -- table being iterated.

local key = nil if state

nil then -- the first time, generate the index t.__orderedIndex = __genOrderedIndex(t) key = t.__orderedIndex[1] else -- fetch the next value for i = 1, #(t.__orderedIndex) do if t.__orderedIndex[i]

state then key = t.__orderedIndex[i + 1] end end end

if key then return key, t[key] end

-- no more value to return, cleanup t.__orderedIndex = nil returnend

function p.orderedPairs(t) -- Equivalent of the pairs function on tables. Allows to iterate in order. return orderedNext, t, nilend

return p