Lua functions to copy a table not just reference the original table and it's data

Copy table functions

-- From: lua-users.org   
-- http://lua-users.org/wiki/CopyTable

--[[ 
Shallow Copy

This a simple, naive implementation. It only copies the top level value and its direct children; there is no handling of deeper children, metatables or special types such as userdata or coroutines. It is also susceptible to influence by the __pairs metamethod.
]]--

function shallowcopy(orig)
    local orig_type = type(orig)
    local copy
    if orig_type == 'table' then
        copy = {}
        for orig_key, orig_value in pairs(orig) do
            copy[orig_key] = orig_value
        end
    else -- number, string, boolean, etc
        copy = orig
    end
    return copy
end


--[[
Deep Copy

A deep copy copies all levels (or a specific subset of levels).
Here is a simple recursive implementation that additionally handles metatables and avoid the __pairs metamethod.
]]-- 

function deepcopy(orig)
    local orig_type = type(orig)
    local copy
    if orig_type == 'table' then
        copy = {}
        for orig_key, orig_value in next, orig, nil do
            copy[deepcopy(orig_key)] = deepcopy(orig_value)
        end
        setmetatable(copy, deepcopy(getmetatable(orig)))
    else -- number, string, boolean, etc
        copy = orig
    end
    return copy
end