Lua Call Graph

Generate a call graph of Lua programs.

API

new

Create new capture instance.

syntax: graph.new(cfg)

Supported configs:

• name: call graph name
• filename: name for the call graph .dot file (defaults to name)
• ignores: an array of function names to redact from the .dot file
• separator: the character to use as separator for spaces¹
• mappings: a translation map of function names; if a function mamed key is found, it's renamed with value

:capture

syntax: graph:capture()

Starts capturing the call graph from that point in the program.

:stop

syntax: graph:stop()

Stops capturing the call graph. A subsequent call to :emit generates the call graph.

:emit

syntax: graph:emit()

Emits the captured call graph named name into the DOT file filename.

Example

Given the Lua code below

local callgraph = require"callgraph"

function a()
  b()
end

function b()
  c()
  print()
end

function c()
  local t = {"a", "b"}
  for _, _ in pairs(t) do end
  d()
end

function d()
  print("")
end

local g = callgraph.new({
  name = "callgraph",
  filename = "graph.dot",
  ignores = {"something"},
})

g:capture()
pcall(a) -- this one is found
pcall(function() end) -- this one cannot be found - so shows as unknown
g:stop()
c()
g:emit()

the library outputs the following call graph:

Footnotes

1. Some internal function names might contain spaces. For example, for iterator. The separator value will be used to replace these spaces. ↩