As we all learned in algebra, it is not only important to understand how operators work, but also understand the order in which operators are applied. The order in which operators are applied is governed by their precedence and their association.
Lua operators have the following precedence, ordered from highest to lowest priority, and association:
| Group | Operators | Association |
|---|---|---|
| Exponentiation | ^ | Right |
| Unary Operators | not # - ~ | Left |
| Arithmetic | * / % | Left |
| Arithmetic | + - | Left |
| Concatenation | .. | Right |
| Bitwise | & | Left |
| Bitwise | ~ | Left |
| Bitwise | | | Left |
| Relational | < > <= >= ~= == | Left |
| Logical | and | Left |
| Logical | or | Left |
As with algebra, parentheses can be used to override the order of precedence of an expression.