[1.101.3] Getting a "number expected, got string" error despite turning strings to numbers.

[Allaark]

As the title says. I was trying to be fancy when making this program, but now i keep getting a function: 450cca98: bad argument #1 (number expected, got string) when the variables im storing are actually called. I already searched for a solution, and found that i am supposed to use toNumber() to ensure the variables are actually numbers and not strings, but it seems to not have worked. Have i done something wrong?

(added a comment next to where i think the error occurs)

-- Prepare Housekeeping Variables
local height = 0
local blockSlot = 0
local ladderSlot = 0
local fuelSlot = 0
local setup = false
local confirmation = ""
-- Fill Housekeeping Variables
while setup ~= true do
    term.write("How high would you like to go? ")
    height = read()
    tonumber(height)
    print("What slot contains my fuel?")
    fuelSlot = read()
    tonumber(fuelSlot)
    term.write("What slot contains the ladders? ")
    ladderSlot = read()
    tonumber(ladderSlot)
    term.write("What slot contains my Fodder Blocks? ")
    blockSlot = read()
    tonumber(blockSlot)
-- Print Housekeeping Variables for verification
    print("Ok.")
    print("Just to be sure, please review your input.")
    print("")
    print("Target Block Height: "..height)
    print("Fuel Source in slot: "..fuelSlot)
    print("Ladders in slot: "..ladderSlot)
    print("Fodder Blocks in slot: "..blockSlot)
    print("")
    print("Is this all correct?")
    print("Type 'Yes'(case sensitive) to confirm")
    confirmation = read()
    if confirmation  == "Yes" then
        setup = true
        print("Alright!")
        textutils.slowPrint("Getting Ready...", 10)
        textutils.slowPrint("...   ", 5)
        term.clear()
    else
        print("Understood.")
        textutils.slowPrint("Restarting...", 10)
        textutils.slowPrint("...   ", 5)
        term.clear()
    end
end
-- Do the Laddering
for i = 1, height do
    turtle.select(blockSlot) -- < (Error Occurs here i think)
    turtle.place()
    if turtle.up() == false then
        turtle.digUp()
    end
    turtle.select(ladderSlot)
    turtle.placeDown()
    if turtle.getFuelLevel()<200 then -- Need to Refuel
        print("Low Fuel!")
        turtle.select(fuelSlot)
        if turtle.refuel() ~= true then
            print("NO FUEL!!") -- Out of fuel
        else
            print("Refueled!")
            print("New fuel level: "..turtle.getFuelLevel()) -- Print new fuel level after refueling.
        end
    end
    print("Loop complete! "..height.." Blocks left.")
end
print("All Ladders Placed!")```

[fatboychummy]

tonumber returns a new value, it does not modify in-place. No function can modify anything in-place, unless you are working with tables.

height = tonumber(height)

if not height then
  -- failed to convert to a number.
end

[fatboychummy]

What is strange though is your error message. function: 450cca98 should not be the source name of the error. What version of CC:T are you using (the version of the mod itself, not "craftos 1.8" or "craftos 1.9"), what version of Minecraft, and what modloader are you using?

[Allaark]

Im on CC:T version 1.101.3, Minecraft 1.18.2 (Stoneblock 3). I downloaded the pack through Curseforge, but am actually playing Via Modrinth (through import).

[Allaark]

While using my turtle to run _HOST to get the CC:T version number and stuff, i realized that a different program i wrote while following a tutorial does something similar near the beginning, but without any sort of error.

local times = 0
term.write("How many times? ")
times = read()
for i = 1, times do
---rest of functional program goes here.

Even after removing the tonumber() calls in the ladder program, i still get the same error, though with the source name function: 3b5abf7b. Did i do something wrong?

[zyxkad]

If you need read a number, just do tonumber(read())

[Allaark]

If you need read a number, just do tonumber(read())

would i need to put the variable name in as an argument alongside read()?
Oh. you meant just putting the read() in a tonumber() whenever i need it. yeah that helps, thanks!

[zyxkad]

no, tonumber is a function call, it takes an input (which is the string from read()), and produce an output (which is the number you want stores in the variable)

You should do

var_name = tonumber(read())

[fatboychummy]

times = read()
for i = 1, times do

Lua implicitly converts times to a number here. Thus, this is technically fine to do. However, for functions which explicitly expect you to give them a number, you need to tonumber() the value.