Having trouble getting a strings length and storing it as a variable

So i have code like this

A = read()
string = A
return string:len()

And i can print it out very easily by replacing string:len() with print(string:len())

But how can i store the length in a variable and then do what i need with the variable?

Just assign it to a new variable:

length = yourstring:len()

You'll want to avoid naming your variables string though. string is a global table which you might want to use in the future. I realize you're using the colon notation, but still, unintentionally overwriting global tables is never good.

len = yourstring:len()       -- this is equivalent to
len = string.len(yourstring) -- this

And of course you might want to declare your variables locally so they won't clutter the global environment:

local len = yourstring:len()

There's still more. string.len is sort of old and to be honest, I didn't even know it existed. I recommend using the # (length) operator instead:

len = yourstring:len()       -- all of
len = string.len(yourstring) -- these
len = #yourstring            -- do the same

so if i declare

A = "Hello World"
--can i do
B = #A

CloudNinja, on 03 May 2015 - 12:32 AM said:

so if i declare

A = "Hello World"
--can i do
B = #A

Yes.