status()

The status() method takes a coroutine as an argument and returns a string indicating the status of that coroutine. This status can be one of three states: suspended, running, or dead.

When a coroutine is created, it has a status of suspended by default. Once a coroutine has been called or resumed, it has a status of running. The coroutine will run until it is suspended, using coroutine.yield(), or it completes. If a coroutine completes its execution and terminates, it receives a permanent status of dead.

Syntax

The syntax for calling status() is given below:

coroutine.status(xCoroutine)

Where xCoroutine names the coroutine to be checked.

Example

The example below demonstrates the life-cycle of a coroutine from suspended to running to dead:

--Create a new coroutine using the function lifecycle()

lifecycle = function(parameterCoroutine)
  print(coroutine.status(parameterCoroutine))
end

exampleCoroutine = coroutine.create(lifecycle)

print(coroutine.status(exampleCoroutine)) --Prints 'suspended', since we have not yet run exampleCoroutine.

coroutine.resume(exampleCoroutine, exampleCoroutine) --Runs exampleCoroutine and passes it as a parameter to lifecycle(). This prints 'running', since .status() is called on exampleCoroutine while it is executing.

print(coroutine.status(exampleCoroutine)) --Prints 'dead', since exampleCoroutine has terminated.

This results in the output:

suspended
running
dead