dump lua table contents to string

dumptable.lua

-- usage: dumpTable(t)
-- to dump to file:
--[[
	local str = dumpTable(t)
	local f = io.open("dumped_table.txt", "w+")
	f:write(str)
	f:close()
]]

local function getTabulation(depth)
	local s = ""
	for i = 1, depth do
		s = s .. "\t"
	end
	
	return s
end

function dumpTable(t, depth)
	if not depth then
		depth = 0
	end
	
	local str = ""

	if type(t) == "table" then
		local n = 0
		
		str = str .. "{\n"
		
		for k, v in pairs(t) do
			n = n + 1
			str = str .. getTabulation(depth + 1) .. "[" .. (tonumber(k) and k or string.format('"%s"', k)) .. "] = " .. dumpTable(v, depth + 1) .. "\n"
		end
		
		str = str .. getTabulation(depth) .. "},\n"
	
		if n > 0 then
			return str
		end
		
		return "{},"
	elseif type(t) == "string" then
		return '"' .. tostring(t) .. '",'
	else
		return tostring(t) .. ","
	end
end