What's the point of ipairs!?

[Aanson]

Hey all.

I've discovered that pairs() can be used for integer and string based tables.

When using pairs() with a integer based table, it also still re-evaluates the key numbers if a field is removed during the iteration.

So what's the point of ipairs()?

[myrroddin]

ipairs() requires the index to start at 1, and stops when there is a nil value, even if there is more entries in the table after said nil value. pairs() iterates through the entire table regardless of index or value.

http://www.wowpedia.org/API_ipairs
http://www.wowpedia.org/API_pairs

[Rilgamon]

http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=875909

[Tuller]

Generally, if I have an "array" and I care about ordering, I use ipairs. If I don't care, I use pairs.