load script from other file extension?

Question

is it possible to load module from file with extension other than .lua?

require("grid.txt") results in:

module 'grid.txt' not found:
no field package.preload['grid.txt']
no file './grid/txt.lua'
no file '/usr/local/share/lua/5.1/grid/txt.lua'
no file '/usr/local/share/lua/5.1/grid/txt/init.lua'
no file '/usr/local/lib/lua/5.1/grid/txt.lua'
no file '/usr/local/lib/lua/5.1/grid/txt/init.lua'
no file './grid/txt.so'
no file '/usr/local/lib/lua/5.1/grid/txt.so'
no file '/usr/local/lib/lua/5.1/loadall.so'
no file './grid.so'
no file '/usr/local/lib/lua/5.1/grid.so'
no file '/usr/local/lib/lua/5.1/loadall.so'

I suspect that it's somehow possible to load the script into package.preaload['grid.txt'] (whatever that is) before calling require?

Answer 1

It depends on what you mean by load.

If you want to execute the code in a file named grid.txt in the current directory, then just do dofile"grid.txt". If grid.txt is in a different directory, give a path to it.

If you want to use the path search that require performs, then add a template for .txt in package.path, with the correct path and then do require"grid". Note the absence of suffix: require loads modules identified by names, not by paths.

Answer 2

If you want require("grid.txt") to work should someone try that then yes, you'll need to manually loadfile and run the script and put whatever it returns (or whatever require is documented to return when the module doesn't return anything) into package.loaded["grid.txt"].

Alternatively, you could write your own loader just for entries like this which you set into package.preload["grid.txt"] which finds and loads/runs the file or, more generically, you could write yourself a loader function, insert it into package.loaders, and then let it do its job whenever it sees a "*.txt" module come its way.