6/8/2014

Running Lua on Sublime Text A step-by-step guide to execute Lua

code on Sublime Text

Stephen Leitnick

1

June 8, 2014

First things first, Sublime Text does not have a Run or Execute command built

into it. Instead, it has a Build command, which is set aside to build code.

However, a Build system can easily be used to execute Lua code as well, simply by

executing the code against a Lua binary.

1. Ensure you have Sublime Text installed. In this example, I am using Sublime Text 3

Beta. Pick it up here: http://www.sublimetext.com/

2. Download the Lua Binaries

a. Get the download at: http://luabinaries.sourceforge.net/download.html

b. Download the ZIP file

c. Extract ZIP to your desired path, such as C:\Dev

d. You should now have a directory such as C:\Dev\LuaBinaries

3. Open Sublime Text and navigate to Tools > Build System and click on New Build System...

NOTE: Sublime Text might come with a Lua build system already listed, but it does not do

anything, so creating a new build system is still necessary.

4. A tab will pop up titled untitled.sublime-build. Delete anything present and

add the following code:

{

working_dir: C:\\Dev\\LuaBinaries,

cmd: [lua52, $file]

}

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June 8, 2014

The code should appear as follows, given the working_dir value is set to the

directory that contains the Lua binary files that you have extracted onto your

machine:

5. Save the build system (File > Save or CTRL+S)

a. When you attempt to save, it should open up the directory in which it needs

to save

b. Save as Lua.sublime-build

6. Set the current Build System to Lua:

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June 8, 2014

7. Test it out

a. Create a new File (File > New File or CTRL+N)

b. Save the file as HelloWorld.lua

c. Write a print statement, such as print(Hello world!)

d. Execute code: Press F7 or CTRL+B

e. See the result in the output window (Press ESC to hide the output window)

NOTE: Anytime you want to execute standard Lua code, repeat steps 6 and 7.