LÖVE-API
The complete API documentation of LÖVE contained in a Lua table.
The API information is updated manually based on the LÖVE Wiki. Therefore there is no guarantee that everything is correct and up to date. If you find any errors, outdated information or missing content, please file a bug report or create a pull request.
Contributions are more than welcome!
Versions
- The master branch contains the most recent documentation, is constantly updated and follows the official wiki
- You can find the documentation for older versions by checking the releases
Projects using the LÖVE-API
- ZeroBrane Studio - A lightweight Lua IDE
- LÖVE Atom - Snippets and autocompletion for Atom
- LÖVE Hints - Snippets, code hints and autocompletion for Brackets
- LÖVE-IDEA - Snippets and code completion for IntelliJ IDEA
- Vim LOVE Docs - Syntax highlighting for Vim
- LÖVE API for Notepad++ - Code completion and documentation for Notepad++
- love-eclipse-ldt - Code completion and documentation for Lua Development Tools
- love-ide - Code completion and other tools for Atom
- Emmy-love-api - A script to generate LÖVE API autocomplete files for EmmyLua
- love2d-tl - Type definitions for Teal
- Quick Reference - Online quick reference of the LÖVE API
- Lua language server - Provides various language features for Lua to make development easier and faster.
Table structure
return {
version = '11.5',
functions = { -- Functions not in modules, currently only love.getVersion
-- See function structure below
},
modules = {
{
name = 'modulename',
description = 'Description.',
types = {
-- See type structure below
},
functions = {
-- See function structure below
},
enums = {
{
name = 'EnumName',
description = 'Description.',
constants = {
{
name = 'constantname',
description = 'Description.'
}
}
}
}
}
},
types = { -- Currently only supertypes
-- See type structure below
},
callbacks = {
-- See function structure below
}
}types = {
{
name = 'TypeName',
description = 'Description.',
constructors = { -- Optional
'newTypeName'
},
functions = { -- Optional
-- See function structure below
},
supertypes = { -- Optional
'Supertype'
}
}
}functions = { -- callbacks = {
{
name = 'functionName',
description = 'Description.',
variants = {
{
returns = { -- Optional
{
type = 'type',
name = 'name',
description = 'Description.',
table = { -- If type is table
{
type = 'string',
name = 'name',
description = 'Description.'
}
}
}
},
arguments = { -- Optional
{
type = 'type',
name = 'name',
default = 'default argument', -- Optional
description = 'Description.',
table = { -- If type is table
{
type = 'string',
name = 'name',
default = 'nil', -- Optional
description = 'Description.'
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}Extra
For ease of use, extra.lua adds some extra tables.
It is required like this:
api = require('love-api.extra')(require('love-api.love_api'))It makes the following changes:
- The objects/functions/callbacks in the "love module" are now in a module like the other modules, named "love".
- Table fields which were optional before now contain empty tables (these fields: functions, types, enums, returns, arguments, constructors, supertypes)
- Types now have a table of subtypes.
- what field is a string saying what the table is, e.g. 'function', 'method', 'argument' etc.
- id field is a unique string for each table with a what field.
- There are now fields pointing to where a table comes from, e.g. an argument table has the fields module, function_ and variant.
- Modules and functions have the fields fullname (e.g. 'love.graphics.newImage') and prefix (e.g. 'love.graphics.')
- Functions have an optional field constructs, which points to the type it constructs, and getter and setter which is the corresponding getter/setter to the state the function sets/gets.
- api.everything contains every table with a what field.
- There are fields with subsets of api.everything, e.g. api.allfunctions (containing functions, methods and callbacks), api.enums, etc.
- api.byfullname which is indexed by fullname, and api.byid which is indexed by ID. For example
api.byfullname['love.graphics.draw']
Example: function synopsis list
api = require('extra')(require('love-api.love_api'))
table.sort(api.variants, function(a, b) return a.function_.fullname < b.function_.fullname end)
local s = ''
for _, variant in ipairs(api.variants) do
local function list(t)
local s = ''
for i, a in ipairs(t) do
s = s..a.name
if a.default then
s = s..' ['..a.default..']'
end
if i ~= #t then
s = s..', '
end
end
return s
end
if #variant.returns > 0 then
s = s..list(variant.returns)..' = '
end
s = s..variant.function_.fullname..'('
if #variant.arguments > 0 then
s = s..list(variant.arguments)
end
s = s..')\n'
end
print(s)Extra table structure
return {
version = '11.5',
modules = {
{
name = 'modulename',
fullname = 'love.modulename', -- or 'love'
prefix = 'love.' -- or '' for 'love'
description = 'Description.',
minidescription = 'Description.',
types = {},
functions = {},
enums = {},
what = 'module',
id = 'love_modulename',
}
},
byfullname = {}, -- Indexed by 'fullname' key
byid = {}, -- Indexed by 'id' key
everything = {}, -- Every table with a 'what' key
allfullnames = {}, -- modules, functions, methods, callbacks, types, enums
allfunctions = {}, -- functions, methods, callbacks
noncallbackfunctions = {}, -- functions, methods
functions = {},
methods = {},
callbacks = {},
variants = {},
arguments = {},
returns = {},
tables = {},
types = {},
enums = {},
constants = {},
}
enums = {
{
name = 'EnumName',
fullname = name,
description = 'Description.',
minidescription = 'Description.',
constants = {
{
name = 'constantname',
description = 'Description.',
minidescription = 'Description.',
what = 'constant'
id = 'EnumName1',
module = moduleTable,
enum = enumTable,
}
}
what = 'enum',
id = 'EnumName',
module = moduleTable,
}
}
types = {
{
name = 'TypeName',
fullname = name,
description = 'Description.',
minidescription = 'Description.',
functions = {},
parenttype = 'Parenttype' -- Optional
supertypes = {
SupertypeTable,
},
subtypes = {
SubtypeTable,
}
constructors = {
newTypeNameTable,
},
what = 'type',
id = 'TypeName',
module = moduleTable,
}
}
functions = {
{
name = 'functionName',
fullname = 'love.module.functionName',
prefix = 'love.module.',
description = 'Description.',
minidescription = 'Description.',
setter = setterTable, -- Optional
getter = getterTable, -- Optional
constructs = typeTable, -- Optional
variants = {
{
description = 'Description.', -- Optional
returns = {},
arguments = {},
what = 'variant',
id = 'love_module_functionName_rb_ast',
module = moduleTable,
function_ = functionTable,
type_ = typeTable,
}
}
what = 'function', -- or 'method' or 'callback'
id = 'love_module_functionName',
module = moduleTable,
type_ = typeTable,
}
}
returns = { -- or arguments
{
type = 'type',
name = 'name',
default = 'default argument', -- If argument and not return
description = 'Description.',
table = { -- If type is 'table'
{
type = 'string',
name = 'name',
default = 'default argument', -- If argument and not return
description = 'Description.',
what = 'table',
id = 'love_module_functionName_rb_ast_a2_t1',
module = moduleTable,
type_ = typeTable,
function_ = functionTable,
variant = variantTable,
value = returnTable, -- or argumentTable
},
}
what = 'return', -- or 'argument'
id = 'love_module_functionName_rb_ast_r1',
module = moduleTable,
type_ = typeTable,
function_ = functionTable,
variant = variantTable,
}
}