<function name="Iterator" parent="ents" type="libraryfunc"> <description> Returns a [Stateless Iterator](https://www.lua.org/pil/7.3.html) for all entities. Intended for use in [Generic For Loops](https://www.lua.org/pil/4.3.5.html). See <page>player.Iterator</page> for a similar function for all players. Internally, this function uses cached values that exist entirely within lua, as opposed to <page>ents.GetAll</page>, which is a C++ function. Because switching from lua to C++ (and vice versa) incurs a performance cost, this function will be somewhat more efficient than <page>ents.GetAll</page>. <note>The <page>GM:OnEntityCreated</page> and <page>GM:EntityRemoved</page> hooks are used internally to invalidate this function's cache. Using this function inside those hooks is not guaranteed to use an up-to-date cache because hooks are currently executed in an arbitrary order.</note>⤶ <warning>An error being thrown inside the <page>GM:OnEntityCreated</page> or <page>GM:EntityRemoved</page> hooks is likely to break this function. Make it certain that no addons are causing any errors in those hooks.</warning>⤶ </description> <added>2023.10.13</added> <realm>Shared</realm> <file line="L33-L39">lua/includes/extensions/ents.lua</file> <rets> <ret name="" type="function">The Iterator Function from <page text="ipairs">Global.ipairs</page></ret> <ret name="" type="table">Table of all existing <page text="Entities">Entity</page>. This is a cached copy of <page>ents.GetAll</page></ret> <ret name="" type="number"> The starting index for the table of players. This is always `0` and is returned for the benefit of [Generic For Loops](https://www.lua.org/pil/4.3.5.html) </ret> </rets> </function> <example> <description>Example usage of this function.</description> <code> for _, ent in ents.Iterator() do if ( ent:GetClass() == "prop_physics" ) then ent:Remove() end end </code> <output>All physics props will be deleted.</output> </example>