checking what type of a variable something is

is there a way to check if a variable is a number or and boolean or something without the code crashing if it isnt?

I have tried tonumber for numbers but that would work with "3" etc and i also tried if n/4 then but that crashed the code :l

Please help :P/>

use the type() function

local a = 1
print(type(a)) -- will print number

type()

t = { var= 3, state= true, message = "Hello, I am a string" }

for i, v in pairs(t) do
	print(i .. " is " .. v .. " which is a " .. type(v))
end

wow i cant believe it is that simple *facepalm" thanks :D/>