Official docs outline
10 sections- Basic Concepts
Values and types, environments, error handling, metatables, and coroutines overview.
- Values and Types
Nil, boolean, number, string, function, userdata, thread, and table types.
- Metatables and Metamethods
Operator overloading and customizing table behavior via metamethods.
- Garbage Collection
Incremental and generational collectors, weak tables, and finalizers.
- Coroutines
Cooperative multitasking with coroutines.
- The Language
Lexical conventions, variables, statements, expressions, and scoping.
- The C API
The stack, embedding Lua, and calling between C and Lua.
- Standard Libraries
Basic functions, string, table, math, io, os, and utf8 libraries.
- Modules and require
Loading modules with require, package.path, and searchers.
- String Manipulation and Patterns
String functions, pattern matching, and string.format.
Each section links to the official page. Titles and summaries by Extra Credit; the docs belong to their authors.
Versions and support
6 release lines| Line | Released | Latest | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | Dec 22, 2025 | 5.5.1 | Supported |
| 5.4 | Jun 29, 2020 | 5.4.9 | Ended Aug 25, 2026 |
| 5.3 | Jan 12, 2015 | 5.3.6 | Ended Sep 25, 2020 |
| 5.2 | Dec 16, 2011 | 5.2.4 | Ended Mar 7, 2015 |
| 5.1 | Feb 21, 2006 | 5.1.5 | Ended Feb 17, 2012 |
| 5.0 | Apr 11, 2003 | 5.0.3 | Ended Jun 26, 2006 |
Source: endoflife.date