The for statement allows you to repeat the same task for a predefined amount of iterations.

Count from 1 to 4 in intervals of 1

for a=1,4 do io.write(a) end

print()

Output:

1234

Count from 1 to 6 in intervals of 3

for a=1,6,3 do io.write(a) end

print()

Output:

14

Sequential iteration form

for key,value in pairs({1,2,3,4}) do print(key,value) end

Output:

1     1

2     2

3     3

4     4