Any prog/script runs inside a script environment. See script environemnts for more details. This means that even "global" variables or functions declared in a script are only global to its environment. To overcome this limitation we have the 'shared' table to share data and functions between all scripts in an area.

The 'shared' table is a table that is common to all environments associated with game objects in a certain area. This means that each mob/room/object in a given area that runs a script that points to 'shared' will actually be referencing the same table, and the same is true for the area itself.

Using the 'shared' table is as simple as using a typical lua table:

​shared.message="Hello world!"

One can clear/reset the shared table by simply setting its value as an empty table:

shared={}