Re: Syntax request (coming to terms with false)

[RLake@...]

> This, at least, could be made less painful with a function that converts
> false to nil, similar to what you were discussing with the
> ? operator. Thus:

It's actually *exactly* what I was discussing with the ? operator. Hmmph.
As Roberto points out, "x or nil" is somewhat more compact.

Maybe I should have chosen a different example. How about this:

if status, result_or_msg = possible_failure(x, y) then
    -- handle result
  else
    -- handle error message
end

(that could be dofile, for example).

Or how about:

if _, _, capture = strfind(string, pattern) then
    --  do something with the capture
  else
    -- the string didn't contain the pattern
end

It just seems more natural to me.

R.