[loops] For Loop on Lua

My assignment is how to do a for loop. I have figured it out in terms of numbers but cannot figure it out in terms of names. I would like to create a for loop that runs down a list of names. Following is what I have so far:

names = {'John', 'Joe', 'Steve'}
for names = 1, 3 do
  print (names)
end

I have tried some other things but it just doesn't work, the terminal always just lists 1, 2, 3... What I am doing wrong?

names = {'John', 'Joe', 'Steve'}
for names = 1, 3 do
  print (names)
end

1. You're deleting your table and replacing it with an int
2. You aren't pulling a value from the table

Try:

names = {'John','Joe','Steve'}
for i = 1,3 do
    print(names[i])
end

By reading online (tables tutorial) it seems tables behave like arrays so you're looking for:

Way1

names = {'John', 'Joe', 'Steve'}
for i = 1,3 do print( names[i] ) end

Way2

names = {'John', 'Joe', 'Steve'}
for k,v in pairs(names) do print(v) end

Way1 uses the table index/key , on your table names each element has a key starting from 1, for example:

names = {'John', 'Joe', 'Steve'}
print( names[1] ) -- prints John

So you just make i go from 1 to 3.

On Way2 instead you specify what table you want to run and assign a variable for its key and value for example:

names = {'John', 'Joe', myKey="myValue" }
for k,v in pairs(names) do print(k,v) end

prints the following:

1   John
2   Joe
myKey   myValue