sum - Why is this function to add the contents of a table together in Lua returning nothing -

i stuck trying make contese of table (all integers) add form 1 sum. working on project end goal percentage. putting various quantities , storing them in 1 table. want add of integers in table sum. haven't been able find in standard library, have been tyring use this:

function sum(t) local sum = 0 k,v in pairs(t)     sum = sum + v end  return sum 

however, not giving me after return sum.... , appreciated.

a more generic solution problem of reducing contents of table (in case summing elements) outlined in answer (warning: no type checking in code sketch).

if function not returning @ all, because missing end statement in function definition.

if function returning zero, possible there problem table passing argument. in other words, parameter t may nil or empty table. in case, function return zero, value local sum initialized.

if add print (k,v) in loop debugging, can determine whether function has add. try:

local function sum ( t )    print( "t", t ) -- debugging: should not nil    local s = 0    k,v in pairs( t )         print(k,v) --for debugging         s = s + v    end    return s end local mytestdata = { 1, 2, 4, 9 } print( sum( mytestdata) ) 

the expected output when running code is

t   table: [some index] 1   1 2   2 3   4 4   9 16 

notice i've changed variable name inside function sum s. it's preferable not use function name sum variable holding sum in function definition. local sum in function overrides global one, example, couldn't call sum() recursively (i.e. call sum() in definition of sum()).