Reading data from TXT file

So i have read lots of posts and also followed an example in the code exchange on how to save and read data to a text file. this is great. What i cannot figure out is how to then make use of the data. for example this is my working code:

  
local path = system.pathForFile( "times.txt", system.DocumentsDirectory )  
local file = io.open( path, "r" )  
  
local function resumeStart()  
  
if file then  
 print("opening text file")  
 local contents = file:read( "\*a" )  
  
 -- separate the variables into a table using a helper function  
 local prevState = explode(", ", contents)  
  
 print(prevState)  
 end  
end  
  
 function explode(div,str)  
 if (div=='') then return false end  
 local pos,arr = 0,{}  
 -- for each divider found  
 for st,sp in function() return string.find(str,div,pos,true) end do  
 table.insert(arr,string.sub(str,pos,st-1)) -- Attach chars left of current divider  
 pos = sp + 1 -- Jump past current divider  
 end  
 table.insert(arr,string.sub(str,pos)) -- Attach chars right of last divider  
 return arr  
end  
--]]  
  
local function init()  
  
 resumeStart()   
  
end  
   
init()  
  

So my question is how do i use the value that it reads from the text document, i am trying to save a high score for example. when my code is run it displays “table: A304983” for example. so its grabbing the value but how do i now actually use it? hope that makes sense, thank you [import]uid: 19620 topic_id: 7963 reply_id: 307963[/import]

you are creating a table and inserting objects into it and returning the table.

you need to traverse prevstate and index into it.

for i = 1, #prevstate, 1, do
print (prevstate[i])
end

am not in front of my real computer but that should get you going.

c [import]uid: 24 topic_id: 7963 reply_id: 28348[/import]

great thanks ill give it a try, im also looking into using SQLlite so i may go that route also [import]uid: 19620 topic_id: 7963 reply_id: 28415[/import]