PRG: Created page with "{{CatUp|Tutorials}} TOC == Introduction == '''"Nil"''' is a '''noninitialized''' value, or lack of a value, that is blank and equal to nothing. Arithmetic cannot be performed on nil or anything equivalent to nil, because 'nothing', unlike 0, is not a numerical value. When an object is deleted, using the ':Remove()' function, it is removed from the game completely by setting its parent to nil. Unless the object is referenced, it cannot be recovered. == U..."

2024-12-10T22:24:41Z

Created page with "{{CatUp|Tutorials}} __TOC__ == Introduction == '''"Nil"''' is a '''noninitialized''' value, or lack of a value, that is blank and equal to nothing. Arithmetic cannot be performed on nil or anything equivalent to nil, because 'nothing', unlike 0, is not a numerical value. When an object is deleted, using the ':Remove()' function, it is removed from the game completely by setting its parent to nil. Unless the object is referenced, it cannot be recovered. == U..."

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{{CatUp|Tutorials}}
__TOC__

== Introduction ==

'''"Nil"''' is a '''noninitialized''' value, or lack of a value, that is blank and equal to nothing. Arithmetic cannot be performed on nil or anything equivalent to nil, because 'nothing', unlike 0, is not a numerical value. When an object is deleted, using the [[Remove|':Remove()']] function, it is removed from the game completely by setting its parent to nil. Unless the object is referenced, it cannot be recovered.

== Uses ==

"Nil" can be used to remove the value of a property of an object. It is very common to set the parent of an object to "Nil", removing it from the game per se. If the object is referenced by a variable for example, you can bring the object back.

'''Example:'''

''Example script of referencing and object.''

<pre>
p = Instance.new("Part") -- We will create a new grey brick
p.Parent = game.Workspace -- The part (a grey brick) has a parent, game.Workspace
p.Parent = nil -- The part now has no parent (and so it disappears).
p.Parent = game.Workspace -- part still exists because it is referenced by 'p'
p.Parent = nil -- part disappears again (for it has no parent)
p = nil -- part is no longer referenced by anything, so it gets picked up by the garbagecollector
</pre>

Look through the comments in the script above to understand why recovering an object by reference is possible.

Here are more examples of "nil" usage:

'''Example:'''

<pre>
game.Workspace.USERNAME.Humanoid.Health = nil
</pre>

''Using the script above will have the same effects as the following script:''

<pre>
game.Workspace.USERNAME.Humanoid.Health = 0
</pre>

This occurs because setting a players health to "nil" will cause the player to have nothing as a health. Because nothing is similar to having no health at all, your health will go to 0 and you will gain a wipeout.

== See also ==

[[Absolute beginner's guide to scripting]] 
[[Part|Parts]] 
[[Script Creation Walkthrough]] 
[http://www.lua.org/pil/1.2.html Programming in Lua:1.2 - Global Variables] 
[http://www.lua.org/pil/2.1.html Programming in Lua:2.1 - Nil] 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_(computer_programming) Null]

[[Category:Scripting Tutorials]]

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