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script FAQ

what is the difference between require and include?

  • require() is a built in lua function, include() is a norns function

  • require() looks in more places - see norns/lua/core/config.lua

  • most importantly, require() caches its results, and will not re-run its arguments (unless you use a hack[^1]) the state of a require‘d module is persisted, and this is significant. consider the following set of files.

baz.lua, a module:

local Baz = {}
Baz.value = 100
return Baz

‘foo1’ and ‘foo2’ scripts will use the baz module twice via require, incrementing the module state by 1 and 2 respectively.

foo1.lua:

local baz = require('baz')
print('foo1:baz initial value = ' .. baz.value)
baz.value = baz.value + 1
print('foo1:baz new value = ' .. baz.value)

foo2.lua:

local baz = require('baz')
print('foo1:baz initial value = ' .. baz.value)
baz.value = baz.value + 2
print('foo1:baz new value = ' .. baz.value)

‘bar1’ and ‘bar2’ do the same, but with dofile.

bar1.lua:

local baz = dofile('baz.lua')
print('bar1:baz initial value = ' .. baz.value)
baz.value = baz.value + 1
print('bar1:baz new value = ' .. baz.value)

bar2.lua:

local baz = dofile('baz.lua')
print('bar2:baz initial value = ' .. baz.value)
baz.value = baz.value + 2