(sometimes AI explains it better)

What

Created	Updated	Size	License
2017-05	2026-06	< 50 K	LGPL3

Serialize data in Lua table to string with Lua code that recreates this data.

Lua tables can contain cross-references, so actually it's graph encoder to Lua code.

Usage scenarios

I'm using it as data exploration tool. Also it's very handy at debugging Lua code.

First run

t2s = require('serialize_lua_graph')
print(t2s(_G))

Encoding options

Options is optional table that can be passed as second argument to function. That's Lua table with values like { style = 'readable_short' }.

We'll demonstrate behavior on excerpt of _G table printout.

Serializer function supports three encoding styles: minimal, readable_short and readable_long.

style	Output
minimal	local T_1={bit32={arshift='function: 0x557703aab060',
readable_short	local T_1 = { bit32 = { arshift = 'function: 0x55da5d825060',
readable_long	local T_1 = {
	bit32 = {
	arshift = 'function: 0x5595744ae060',

Serializer function supports three behavior flags:

Behavior flag	Output
☑ use_compact_indices	package = T_2,
☐ use_compact_indices	['package'] = T_2,
☑ use_compact_sequences	searchers = { 'function: 0x56089fbeba20'
☐ use_compact_sequences	searchers = { [1] = 'function: 0x5580fdeb8a20'
☑ omit_tail_delimiter	xpcall = 'function: 0x5612c12e1e90' }
☐ omit_tail_delimiter	xpcall = 'function: 0x55b2598d9e90', }

Requirements

• Lua 5.3 (or 5.4, 5.5)

Install/remove

• Save file serialize_lua_graph.lua from deploy/
• Place it to your Lua workplace for require()

Modify

• Clone repo
• Modify files in src/

Rebuild

• Clone workshop repo
• Checkout it to date near 2026-06-20
• Modify package.path in builder/create_deploy.lua so it can find your cloned workshop repo
• Run builder/rebuild.sh

See also

• workshop -- My personal Lua framework on which this tool is based
• My other projects