Roblox globals

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Roblox provides several unique built-in functions and variables in its embedding of Luau. These are only found on Roblox and are not packaged by default with Luau or Lua.

Summary

Functions

  • elapsedTime():number

    Returns the amount of time in seconds that the current instance of Roblox has been running for.

  • PluginManager():PluginManager

    Refers to the PluginManager, a deprecated singleton that was previously required to create plugins.

  • settings():GlobalSettings

    Returns the GlobalSettings object, which can be used to access settings objects that configure Roblox Studio's behavior.

  • tick():number

    Returns the amount of time in seconds since the Unix epoch according to this device's time.

  • time():number

    Returns the amount of time in seconds that has elapsed since the current game instance started running.

  • typeof(object : Variant):string

    Returns the type of the given object as a string, also supporting Roblox-specific types (e.g. Vector3).

  • UserSettings():UserSettings

    Returns the UserSettings object, which is used to read information from the current user's game menu settings.

  • version():string

    Returns the current version of Roblox as a string, which includes the generation, version, patch and commit.

  • warn(params : Tuple):()

    Behaves similarly to print, except with more distinct formatting (yellow); intended for messages which describe potential problems.

Properties

  • Enum:Enums

    Contains all Enum objects.

  • game:DataModel

    Refers to the DataModel singleton, the root instance of a place's hierarchy.

  • plugin:Plugin

    Refers to a Plugin singleton when the code is run in the context of a Studio plugin.

  • shared:Array

    A table shared between all code running at the same execution context level.

  • script:LuaSourceContainer

    A reference to the LuaSourceContainer object (Script, LocalScript, or ModuleScript) that is executing this code.

  • workspace:Workspace

    A reference to the Workspace service, which contains all of the physical components of a place.

Functions

elapsedTime

number

Returns how much time has elapsed since the current instance of Roblox was started. In Roblox Studio, this begins counting up from the moment Roblox Studio starts running, not just when opening a place.

Returns

number

PluginManager

PluginManager

Returns the PluginManager which is a deprecated singleton that was previously required to create plugins. It still has applicable uses, such as if you need to create a Plugin object from Roblox Studio's command bar.

Returns

PluginManager

settings

GlobalSettings

Returns the GlobalSettings object, which can be used to access the settings objects that are used in Roblox Studio's settings menu.

Returns

GlobalSettings

tick

number

Returns how much time has elapsed, in seconds, since the Unix epoch, on the current local session's computer. The Unix epoch is represented by 00:00:00 on 1 January 1970.

tick() isn't officially deprecated, but has a variety of issues. It can be off by up to one second and returns inconsistent results across time zones and operating systems. Use os.time(), os.clock(), or time() instead. Also consider DateTime.UnixTimestamp and DateTime.UnixTimestampMillis.

Returns

number

time

number

Returns the amount of time, in seconds, that has elapsed since the current game instance started running. If the current game instance is not running, this will be 0.

Returns

number

typeof

string

Returns the type of the object specified, as a string. This function is more accurate than Luau's native type function, as it does not denote Roblox-specific types as userdata.

Parameters

object: Variant

The Luau type that will have its type checked.

Returns

string

UserSettings

UserSettings

Returns the UserSettings object, which is used to read information from the current user's game menu settings.

Returns

UserSettings

version

string

Returns the current version of Roblox as a string. The integers in the version string are separated by periods, and each integers represent the following, in order:

  • Generation - The current generation of the application shell that is hosting the client.
  • Version - The current release version of Roblox.
  • Patch - The current patch number for this version of Roblox.
  • Commit - The ID of the last internal commit that was accepted into this version of the client.

Returns

string

warn

()

Behaves identically to Luau's print function, except the output is styled as a warning, with yellow text and a timestamp. This function accepts any number of arguments, and will attempt to convert them into strings which will then be joined together with spaces between them.

Parameters

params: Tuple

This function accepts any number of arguments, and will attempt to convert them into strings which will then be joined together with spaces between them.

Returns

()

Properties

Enum

Enums

A reference to the Enums data type, which stores all of the available enums that can be used on Roblox.

game

DataModel

A reference to the DataModel, which is the root Instance of Roblox's parent/child hierarchy.

plugin

Plugin

A reference to the Plugin object that represents the plugin being run from this Script. This reference exists only in the context where a script is executed as a plugin and is not passed to ModuleScripts within the plugin. To use this reference in a ModuleScript, you must explicitly pass it.

assert(plugin, "This script must be run as a plugin!")

-- Code beyond this point will execute only if the script is run as a plugin

shared

Array

A table that is shared across all scripts that share the same execution context level. This serves the exact same purpose as _G.

script

LuaSourceContainer

A reference to the script object that is executing the code you are writing. It can be either a Script, a LocalScript, or a ModuleScript. This variable is not available when executing code from Roblox Studio's command bar.

workspace

Workspace

A reference to the Workspace service, which contains all of the physical components of a Roblox world.