luajit(1) LuaJIT documentation luajit(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

luajit - Just-In-Time Compiler for the Lua Language

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**luajit** \[*options*]... \[*script* \[*args*]...]

# [WEB SITE](#WEB_SITE)

*https://luajit.org*

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

This is the command-line program to run Lua programs with **LuaJIT**.

**LuaJIT** is a just-in-time (JIT) compiler for the Lua language. The virtual machine (VM) is based on a fast interpreter combined with a trace compiler. It can significantly improve the performance of Lua programs.

**LuaJIT** is API- and ABI-compatible with the VM of the standard Lua 5.1 interpreter. When embedding the VM into an application, the built library can be used as a drop-in replacement.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

[**-e chunk**](#e)

Run the given chunk of Lua code.

[**-l library**](#l)

Load the named library, just like **require("library")**.

[**-b ...**](#b)

Save or list bytecode. Run without arguments to get help on options.

[**-j command**](#j)

Perform LuaJIT control command (optional space after **-j**).

[**-O\[opt\]**](#O)

Control LuaJIT optimizations.

[**-i**](#i)

Run in interactive mode.

[**-v**](#v)

Show **LuaJIT** version.

[**-E**](#E)

Ignore environment variables.

**--**

Stop processing options.

**-**

Read script from stdin instead.

After all options are processed, the given *script* is run. The arguments are passed in the global *arg* table.

Interactive mode is only entered, if no *script* and no **-e** option is given. Interactive mode can be left with EOF (*Ctrl-Z).*

# [EXAMPLES](#EXAMPLES)

[luajit hello.lua world](#luajit)

Prints "Hello world", assuming *hello.lua* contains:  
print("Hello", arg\[1])

[luajit -e "local x=0; for i=1,1e9 do x=x+i end; print(x)"](#luajit~2)

Calculates the sum of the numbers from 1 to 1000000000.  
And finishes in a reasonable amount of time, too.

[luajit -jv -e "for i=1,10 do for j=1,10 do for k=1,100 do end end end"](#luajit~3)

Runs some nested loops and shows the resulting traces.

# [COPYRIGHT](#COPYRIGHT)

**LuaJIT** is Copyright © 2005-2025 Mike Pall.  
**LuaJIT** is open source software, released under the MIT license.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

More details in the provided HTML docs or at: *https://luajit.org*  
More about the Lua language can be found at: *https://lua.org/docs.html*

[lua(1)](/man/os/luajit/lua.1)

---

Document: luajit(1) from luajit 2.1_p20250117-r10 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://github.com/openresty/luajit2