Statements

If statements

If statements use a similar style to most programming languages and will execute their asigned code if the test placed inside returns the boolean value true. If I wanted to have something occur if, and only if, our previous ReturnTrueOrFalse function returned true, then you can use:

if( ReturnTrueOrFalse() )

Conditional operators can also be used to make comparisons, such as == (equals), < (less than), <= (less than or equal), != (not equal), etc., returning true if their condition is satisfied. For example, to execute code if a dice roll landed on 5:

if( RandomInt( 6 ) + 1 == 5 )

Like other languages, if statements can be connected to else if and else statements. else if statements must be used immediately after an if or else if and will only check their condition if the preceding statements failed. else statements behave similarly, but always run if the preceding statements failed and must be last.

Squirrel supports ternary operations like most languages. The value of the expression depends if a condition is truthy or not. However, if not used carefully this can worsen readability. The Syntax is condition ? if_condition_true : if_condition_false. This is especially useful when declaring variables or passing parameters.

// shortenedUsername is "longus..."" if username is "longusername" or "short" if username is "short"
string shortenedUsername = username.len() > 9 ? username.slice(0,6) + "..." : username;

Loops

Loops are used to execute the same code n times.

While Loops

A while loop runs as long as the condition evaluates to a truthy value.

while( true )
{
  // this will result in an endless loop because the probe condition will never be false
}

while( RandomInt( 2 ) )
{
  // This will run until a 1 is generated by chance, because squirrel treats 0 as a falsy value and 1 as truthy.
}

Do While Loop

A do while loop is the same as a while loop but the condition is checked after the body is executed.

do
{
  // this will execute only one time
} while( false )

For Loop

A for loop also runs until a condition is met however it provides you with a counter variable.

The Syntax is as follows: for( int counter; condition; behaviour_after_body_execution )

// prints 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
for( int i; i < 5; i++ )
{
  print( i )
}

array<int> arr = [ 14, 2, 18, 9 ]
// prints 14, 2, 18, 9
for( int i; i < arr.len() * 2; i += 2 )
{
  print( arr[i] )
}

Foreach Loop

A foreach loop iterates over a table or an array and executes for each entry. The loop provides you with an optional counter for arrays or key for tables.

array<int> arr = [ 1, 2, 3, 4 ]
table<string, string> map = {
  key1 = "mapped value 1",
  key2 = "mapped value 2"
}

// prints 0 1, 1 2, 2 3, 3 4
foreach( int index, int value in arr )
{
  printt( index, value )
}

// prints key1 mapped value 1, key2 mapped value 2
foreach( string key, string value in map )
{
  printt( key, value )
}

Implicit conditional behavior

Conditional statements, such as while loops and if statements, also implictly cast non-boolean inputs to booleans. For numbers, this means 0 is considered false and anything else is considered true. For instance variables like arrays and entities, null is considered false and anything else is considered true. For example, these inputs are considered true by the if statements:

if(2)

array somelist = [0, 1]
if(somelist)

Be aware that empty arrays and strings, [] and "", are considered true by this logic.

Formatting of actions

So great, we can loop and check things, but what can we do with this information? Squirrel uses {} to denote the contents of a series of actions caused by such a statement.

For example, lets make our ReturnTrueOrFalse function, that randomly picks either true or false, first:

bool function ReturnTrueOrFalse() {
  return RandomInt(2) == 1
}

Note that while functions always need {}, single-line if/else statements and loops do not:

if(ReturnTrueOrFalse())
  printt("Only called if true")

Now let’s make a more complicated function that will use the previous script to determine true or false, printing a list each time it returns true:

array<int> someinformation = [1,2,3,4,5,6]
void function ThisDoesStuff(){
  while(ReturnTrueOrFalse()){
    foreach( int information in someinformation){
      printt(information)
    }
  }
}