ROBLOX Lua Error in script: '=' expected near '<eof>'

Question

Hello I am writing a scipt on ROBLOX and I have encountered a problem.

function showVictoryMessage(playerName)
    local message = Instance.new("Message")
    message.Text = playerName .." has won!"
    message.Parent = game.Workspace
    wait (2)
    message.Destroy()
end

Upon running this function, or more specifically the "message.Destroy" command, I get the error: Error in script: '=' expected near '< eof >'

I have never seen this error before, and the ROBLOX wiki page on Lua errors doesn't mention it.

I would very much appreciate help in this, because I don't personally know anyone who has coded in Lua.

Answer 1

Looks like a syntax error. message.Destroy() should be message:Destroy() according to this Roblox wiki page http://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=API:Class/Instance/Destroy

Also see the section Explosions, Messages, and More at URL http://wiki.roblox.com/index.php?title=Basic_Scripting which provides similar syntax using the colon (:) operator.

See also Difference between . and : in Lua and explanation of "possible side-effects of calculations/access are calculated only once" with colon notation.

Answer 2

Instead of message.Destroy() it should be message:Destroy()

Remember that '.' are used directory-wise and ":' are used for inbuilt functions.

Answer 3

WOOOOOOOO! It was a syntax error. The correct command is message:Destroy . Cause why would object.Destroy work and message .Destroy not?