Lua Academy · Lesson

Instance Methods and self

Define methods using colon syntax and the implicit self parameter.

self is the Instance

When you call obj:method(), Lua passes obj as the first argument automatically. By convention this parameter is named self. Through self, the method accesses instance data and calls other methods.

local Counter = {}
Counter.__index = Counter

function Counter.new(start)
  return setmetatable({value=start or 0, step=1}, Counter)
end

function Counter:increment()
  self.value = self.value + self.step
end

function Counter:getValue() return self.value end

local c = Counter.new(10)
c:increment(); c:increment()
print(c:getValue())  -- 12

Method Chaining

Return self from methods to enable chaining: obj:method1():method2():method3(). Each call returns the same object, allowing a fluent style. This works best for methods that modify state.

local Builder = {}
Builder.__index = Builder

function Builder.new()
  return setmetatable({parts={}},Builder)
end

function Builder:add(s) self.parts[#self.parts+1]=s; return self end
function Builder:addAll(t)
  for _,v in ipairs(t) do self.parts[#self.parts+1]=v end
  return self
end
function Builder:build() return table.concat(self.parts," ") end

local result = Builder.new()
  :add("Hello")
  :add("from")
  :addAll({"Lua","OOP"})
  :build()
print(result)  -- Hello from Lua OOP

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