-- player character table
chars = {}

function playerexists (name)
  name = capitalize (name)

  if chars [name] then
    return true
  end -- exists and is online

  local dir = config.player_dir .. string.sub (name, 1, 1)
  -- see if file exists  
  f = io.open (dir .. "/" .. name, "r")
  
  if f then
    f:close ()
    return true
  end -- player file exists
  
  return false -- no such player
end -- playerexists

function SaveCharacter (name)
  name = capitalize (name)

  local char = chars [name]
  local dir = config.player_dir .. string.sub (name, 1, 1)
    
  -- open file to serialize into
  local f, err = io.open (dir .. "/" .. name, "w")
  -- too bad if we can't
  assert (f, err)

  -- don't want to serialize client table for various reasons
  local client = char.client
  char.client = nil

  -- save all player data
  ok, err = f:write (serialize (name, char))
  
  -- put it back
  char.client = client

  -- done with file
  f:close ()

  -- now check for errors
  assert (ok, err)
  
end -- SaveCharacter

function LoadCharacter (name)
  name = capitalize (name)

  local char = chars [name]
  local dir = config.player_dir .. string.sub (name, 1, 1)

  -- load the file, get a function to execute  
  local f, err = loadfile (dir .. "/" .. name)
  -- oops, if not found
  assert (f, err)
  -- want to load this character into the chars table
  setfenv (f, chars)
  -- load it
  f ()
end -- LoadCharacter