Register C function in Lua table

Question

How to register a C function in Lua, but not in a global context, but as a table field?

Answer 1

void register_c_function(char const * const tableName, char const * const funcName, CFunctionSignature funcPointer)
{
    lua_getfield(lstate, LUA_GLOBALSINDEX, tableName);  // push table onto stack
    if (!lua_istable(lstate, -1))                       // not a table, create it
    {
        lua_createtable(lstate, 0, 1);      // create new table
        lua_setfield(lstate, LUA_GLOBALSINDEX, tableName);  // add it to global context

        // reset table on stack
        lua_pop(lstate, 1);                 // pop table (nil value) from stack
        lua_getfield(lstate, LUA_GLOBALSINDEX, tableName);  // push table onto stack
    }

    lua_pushstring(lstate, funcName);       // push key onto stack
    lua_pushcfunction(lstate, funcPointer); // push value onto stack
    lua_settable(lstate, -3);               // add key-value pair to table

    lua_pop(lstate, 1);                     // pop table from stack
}

Answer 2

This is what luaL_register() is intended to do, for one or more functions. The canonical usage is as part of the setup for a module written in C:

/* actual definitions of modA() and modB() are left as an exercise. */

/* list of functions in the module */
static const luaL_reg modfuncs[] =
{
    { "a", modA},
    { "b", modB},
    { NULL, NULL }
};

/* module loader function called eventually by require"mod" */  
int luaopen_mod(lua_State *L) {
    luaL_register(L, "mod", modfuncs);
    return 1;
}

where this creates a module named "mod" that has two functions named mod.a and mod.b.

Quoting the manual for luaL_register(L,libname,l):

When called with libname equal to NULL, it simply registers all functions in the list l (see luaL_Reg) into the table on the top of the stack.

When called with a non-null libname, luaL_register creates a new table t, sets it as the value of the global variable libname, sets it as the value of package.loaded[libname], and registers on it all functions in the list l. If there is a table in package.loaded[libname] or in variable libname, reuses this table instead of creating a new one.

In any case the function leaves the table on the top of the stack.

luaL_register() can be used to put C functions in any table by passing NULL for its second parameter as long as the table is on the top of the stack.