Is there an easier way to write this without putting it in a function?

Question

I do this nearly every line:

if printAll then print("message for debugging") end

Is there a way to syntax sugar this, without putting it in a function?

local function cPrint(text)  --conditional printing
  if printAll then
    print(text)
  end
end

cPrint("message for debugging")

Because that function would have to constantly pass a variable only to find out that it isn't needed. Since printAll is usually false, this kind of misuse of resources is not what I want. This function might get run millions of times per minute, it just feels bad to pass an argument that uses memory only to be discarded.

So is there a way to discard this condition before an argument is passed that's a little nicer to look at? (The main reason being that it's more confusing to read nested if-else structures with those lines in there that start with "if".)

Answer 1

Does this work for you?

local cPrint
if printAll then
   cPrint=print
else
   cPrint=function()end
end

It saves executing the if, but not the function call.

Here is an alternative, that executes a hidden if, but avoids the function call:

_= printAll and print("message for debugging")

It's not really any more readable than

if printAll then print("message for debugging") end