how to play with a function which return table in lua?

Question

i am not able to handle table which is return by a function.can any one help me on this ?

local grades = { Mary = "100", Teacher="100",'4','6'}
print "Printing grades!"
grades.joe = "10"
grades_copy = grades
for k, v in ipairs(grades) do
  --  print "Grade:"
   -- print(k, v)
end
function returntable()
    tablein = grades
    return 'hello'
end

grades_copy_table = returntable
--print(grades_copy_table)

In that above program i want to access the table elements through that function " returntable" which return table.

Answer 1

In Lua, functions are first-class values.

grades_copy_table = returntable

Here you are assigning grades_copy_table the function returntable itself, not its return value. You need to call that function and assign the returned value:

grades_copy_table = returntable()