> So do you have any idea why I cannot use the more compact syntax that I > first trieed? An assignment in Lua is not an expression, it's a statement. See http://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/manual.html#2.4.3 and http://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/manual.html#8 If assignment were an expression, what would be an interpretation for multiple assignment? --lhf