4.3 – Hooks

Lua offers a mechanism of hooks, which are user-defined C functions that are called during the program execution. A hook may be called in four different events: a call event, when Lua calls a function; a return event, when Lua returns from a function; a line event, when Lua starts executing a new line of code; and a count event, which happens every “count” instructions. Lua identifies these events with the following constants: LUA_HOOKCALL, LUA_HOOKRET (or LUA_HOOKTAILRET, see below), LUA_HOOKLINE, and LUA_HOOKCOUNT.

A hook has type lua_Hook, defined as follows:

       typedef void (*lua_Hook) (lua_State *L, lua_Debug *ar);

You can set the hook with the following function:

       int lua_sethook (lua_State *L, lua_Hook func, int mask, int count);

func is the hook. mask specifies on which events the hook will be called: It is formed by a disjunction of the constants LUA_MASKCALL, LUA_MASKRET, LUA_MASKLINE, and LUA_MASKCOUNT. The count argument is only meaningful when the mask includes LUA_MASKCOUNT. For each event, the hook is called as explained below:

• The call hook is called when the interpreter calls a function. The hook is called just after Lua enters the new function.
• The return hook is called when the interpreter returns from a function. The hook is called just before Lua leaves the function.
• The line hook is called when the interpreter is about to start the execution of a new line of code, or when it jumps back in the code (even to the same line). (This event only happens while Lua is executing a Lua function.)
• The count hook is called after the interpreter executes every count instructions. (This event only happens while Lua is executing a Lua function.)

A hook is disabled by setting mask to zero.

You can get the current hook, the current mask, and the current count with the following functions:

       lua_Hook lua_gethook      (lua_State *L);
       int      lua_gethookmask  (lua_State *L);
       int      lua_gethookcount (lua_State *L);

Whenever a hook is called, its ar argument has its field event set to the specific event that triggered the hook. Moreover, for line events, the field currentline is also set. To get the value of any other field in ar, the hook must call lua_getinfo. For return events, event may be LUA_HOOKRET, the normal value, or LUA_HOOKTAILRET. In the latter case, Lua is simulating a return from a function that did a tail call; in this case, it is useless to call lua_getinfo.

While Lua is running a hook, it disables other calls to hooks. Therefore, if a hook calls back Lua to execute a function or a chunk, that execution occurs without any calls to hooks.