Modifies the key but doesn't actually modify the value? - arrays

Question

players={}
players["foo"] =
{
wins = 0, deaths = 0, draws = 0, rounds = 0, bet = "None", rank = 0
}
modify = function (stat, set, target)
local player = players[target]
local dictionary =
{
["wins"] = player.wins, ["deaths"] = player.deaths,
["draws"] = player.draws, ["rounds"] = player.rounds,
["bet"] = player.bet, ["rank"] = player.rank,
}
if dictionary[stat] then
dictionary[stat] = set
print(dictionary[stat])
print(player.wins)
end
end
modify("wins", 1, "foo")
The code mentioned above doesn't really function as it's supposed to. It modifies the key "wins" but the value it's self (player[target].wins) isn't modified.

Answer 1

Numeric values aren't references. You get copies when you copy them not references back to their original locations.
So when you assign ["wins"] = player.wins you aren't getting a reference to the wins field in the player table. You are copying the value into the dictionary table.
If you want to modify the player table you need to modify the player table.
Also the indirection in that function is entirely unnecessary. You can reference player[stat] just the same as you can reference dictionary[stat].
tbl.stat is syntactic sugar[1] for tbl["stat"].
Additionally, as seen in §2.5.7 of the lua manual:
tbl = {
stat = 0,
}
is the same as
tbl = {
["stat"] = 0,
}
when the name is a string, does not start with a number, and is not a reserved token.
[1] See the The type table paragraph.