Outputting LaTeX command from Lua script

Question

I am trying to use a Lua script to generate LaTeX commands. Here is a minimal lua script:

my_array = {
  cmdone = {1, 2},
  cmdtwo = {2, 3}
}

cmd_template = "\\newcommand*{\\%s}{number one: %s, number two: %s}"

function mkcommands()
  for k, v in pairs(my_array) do
    -- print(string.format(cmd_template, k, v[1], v[2]))
    tex.print(string.format(cmd_template, k, v[1], v[2]))
  end
end

And here is the TeX file:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage{luacode}

\begin{luacode}
dofile("test.lua")
mkcommands()
\end{luacode}

%\newcommand*{\cmdtwo}{number one: 2, number two: 3}
%\newcommand*{\cmdone}{number one: 1, number two: 2}

\begin{document}

\cmdone

\cmdtwo

\end{document}

When I run lualatex test.tex, I get Undefined control sequence l. 15 \cmdone.

What am I doing wrong? Can this even be done?

I used the commented "print" command in the lua code to show that what was being generated looked correct. I then pasted the generated \newcommand commands into the TeX file to verify that they were working--producing the expected output

number one: 1, number two: 2 number one: 2, number two: 3

But it seems the print() and tex.print commands are producing different output.

Answer 1

It turns out that my problem was scope. When I used Lua to generate \newcommand commands inside a \begin{luacode} ... \end{luacode} environment, those commands disappeared when the environment ended. The fix was to use \directlua instead of the environment. With the same Lua file, this TeX file works:

\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage{luacode}

\directlua{dofile("test.lua")
mkcommands()}

\begin{document}

\cmdone

\cmdtwo

\end{document}