---
name: "luajit"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "luajit"
version: "2.1.1793383622+ea9eb7e-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/luajit"
---

# luajit(1)

Just-In-Time Compiler for the Lua Language

## NAME

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

## SYNOPSIS

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

## WEB SITE

*https://luajit.org*

## 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

- **-e** *chunk*

  Run the given chunk of Lua code.

- **-l** *library*

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

- **-b** *...*

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

- **-j** *command*

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

- **-O***\[opt\]*

  Control LuaJIT optimizations.

- **-i**

  Run in interactive mode.

- **-v**

  Show **LuaJIT** version.

- **-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

- **luajit hello.lua world**

  **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)"

  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"

  Runs some nested loops and shows the resulting traces.

## COPYRIGHT

**LuaJIT** is Copyright © 2005-2026 Mike Pall.\
 **LuaJIT** is open source software, released under the MIT license.

## 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)](/lua/1.md)