Utilities

Some utility functions. Unlike the functions in misc.lua, this file only holds HL2 specific functions.

Summary

Utilities	Some utility functions.
Functions
fileExists	Checks for the existence of a file by path.
fileRead	Reads a file and returns the contents.
fileWrite	Writes file content.
fileAppend	Append to file content.
fileCreateDir	Create a directory.
fileDelete	Delete file contents.
fileIsDir	Is file a directory?
execFile	Executes a file on the console.
execString	Just like execFile, except acts on newline-delimited strings.
execFileULib	Just like execFile, except only for ULib-defined commands.
execStringULib	Just like execString, except only for ULib-defined commands.
serialize	Serializes a variable.
isSandbox	Returns true if the current gamemode is sandbox or is derived from sandbox.
filesInDir	Returns files in directory.
queueFunctionCall	Adds a function call to the queue to be called.
namedQueueFunctionCall	Exactly like queueFunctionCall(), but allows for separately running queues to exist.
backupFile	Copies a file to a backup file.
nameCheck	Calls all ULibPlayerNameChanged hooks if a player changes their name.
getPlyByUID
pcallError	An adaptation of a function that used to exist before GM13, allows you to call functions safely and print errors (if it errors).

Functions

fileExists

function ULib.fileExists( f,
noMount )

Checks for the existence of a file by path.

Parameters

f	The path to check, rooted at the garry’s mod root directory.
noMount	(Optional) If true, will not look in mounted directories.

Returns

True if the file exists, false otherwise.

Revisions

v2.51	Initial revision (tired of Garry changing his API all the time).
v2.70	Added noMount parameter to only look in mod directory.

fileRead

function ULib.fileRead( f,
noMount )

Reads a file and returns the contents. This function is not very forgiving on providing oddly formatted filepaths.

Parameters

f	The file to read, rooted at the garrysmod directory.
noMount	(Optional) If true, will not look in mounted directories.

Returns

The file contents or nil if the file does not exist.

Revisions

v2.51	Initial revision (tired of Garry changing his API all the time).
v2.70	Added noMount parameter to only look in mod directory.

fileWrite

function ULib.fileWrite( f,
content )

Writes file content.

Parameters

f	The file path to write to, rooted at the garrysmod directory.
content	The content to write.

Revisions

v2.51

Initial revision (tired of Garry changing his API all the time).

fileAppend

function ULib.fileAppend( f,
content )

Append to file content.

Parameters

f	The file path to append to, rooted at the garrysmod directory.
content	The content to append.

Revisions

v2.51

Initial revision (tired of Garry changing his API all the time).

fileCreateDir

function ULib.fileCreateDir( f )

Create a directory.

Parameters

f	The directory path to create, rooted at the garrysmod directory.

Revisions

v2.51

Initial revision (tired of Garry changing his API all the time).

fileDelete

function ULib.fileDelete( f )

Delete file contents.

Parameters

f	The file path to delete, rooted at the garrysmod directory.

Revisions

v2.51

Initial revision (tired of Garry changing his API all the time).

fileIsDir

function ULib.fileIsDir( f,
noMount )

Is file a directory?

Parameters

f	The file path to check, rooted at the garrysmod directory.
noMount	(Optional) If true, will not look in mounted directories.

Returns

True if dir, false otherwise.

Revisions

v2.51	Initial revision (tired of Garry changing his API all the time).
v2.70	Added noMount parameter to only look in mod directory.

execFile

function ULib.execFile( f,
queueName,
noMount )

Executes a file on the console. Use this instead of the “exec” command when the config lies outside the cfg folder.

Parameters

f	The file, relative to the garrysmod folder.
queueName	The queue name to ULib.namedQueueFunctionCall to use.
noMount	(Optional) If true, will not look in mounted directories.

Revisions

v2.40	No longer strips comments, removed ability to execute on players.
v2.50	Added option to conform to Garry’s API changes and queueName to specify queue name to use.
v2.51	Removed option parameter.
v2.70	Added noMount parameter to only look in mod directory.

execString

function ULib.execString( f,
queueName )

Just like execFile, except acts on newline-delimited strings.

Parameters

f	The string.
queueName	The queue name to ULib.namedQueueFunctionCall to use.

Revisions

v2.40	Initial.
v2.50	Added queueName to specify queue name to use. Removed ability to execute on players.

execFileULib

function ULib.execFileULib( f,
safeMode,
noMount )

Just like execFile, except only for ULib-defined commands. It avoids the source engine command queue, and has an additional option to only execute commands marked as “safe” (up to the command author to properly define these).

Parameters

f	The file, relative to the garrysmod folder.
safeMode	If set to true, does not run “unsafe” commands.
noMount	(Optional) If true, will not look in mounted directories.

Revisions

v2.62

Initial.

execStringULib

function ULib.execStringULib( f,
safeMode )

Just like execString, except only for ULib-defined commands. It avoids the source engine command queue, and has an additional option to only execute commands marked as “safe” (up to the command author to properly define these).

Parameters

f	The string.
safeMode	If set to true, does not run “unsafe” commands.

Revisions

v2.62

Initial.

serialize

function ULib.serialize( v )

Serializes a variable. It basically converts a variable into a runnable code string. It works correctly with inline tables.

Parameters

v	The variable you wish to serialize

Returns

The string of the serialized variable

Revisions

v2.40

Can now serialize entities and players

isSandbox

function ULib.isSandbox()

Returns true if the current gamemode is sandbox or is derived from sandbox.

filesInDir

function ULib.filesInDir( dir,
recurse,
noMount,
root )

Returns files in directory.

Parameters

dir	The dir to look for files in.
recurse	(Optional, defaults to false) If true, searches directories recursively.
noMount	(Optional) If true, will not look in mounted directories.
root	INTERNAL USE ONLY This helps with recursive functions.

Revisions

v2.10	Initial (But dragged over from GM9 archive).
v2.40	Fixed (was completely broken).
v2.50	Now assumes paths relative to base folder.
v2.60	Fix for Garry API-changes
v2.70	Added noMount parameter to only look in mod directory.

queueFunctionCall

function ULib.queueFunctionCall( fn,
... )

Adds a function call to the queue to be called. Guaranteed to be called sometime after the current frame. Very handy when you need to delay a call for some reason. Uses a think hook, but it’s only hooked when there’s stuff in the queue.

Parameters

fn	The function to call
...	(Optional) The parameters to pass to the function

Revisions

v2.40

Initial (But dragged over from UPS).

namedQueueFunctionCall

function ULib.namedQueueFunctionCall( queueName,
fn,
... )

Exactly like queueFunctionCall(), but allows for separately running queues to exist.

Parameters

queueName	The unique name of the queue (the queue group)
fn	The function to call
...	(Optional) The parameters to pass to the function

Revisions

v2.50

Initial.

backupFile

function ULib.backupFile( f )

Copies a file to a backup file. If a backup file already exists, makes incrementing numbered backup files.

Parameters

f	The file to backup, rooted in the garrysmod directory.

Returns

The pathname of the file it was backed up to.

Revisions

v2.40

Initial.

nameCheck

function ULib.nameCheck( data )

Calls all ULibPlayerNameChanged hooks if a player changes their name.

Revisions

2.20

Initial

getPlyByUID

function ULib.getPlyByUID( uid )

Parameters

uid	The uid to lookup.

Returns

The player that has the specified unique id, nil if none exists.

Revisions

v2.40

Initial.

pcallError

function ULib.pcallError( ... )

An adaptation of a function that used to exist before GM13, allows you to call functions safely and print errors (if it errors).

Parameters

...	Arguments to pass to the function

Returns

The same thing regular pcall returns

Revisions

v2.50

Initial.