function dump(var)
    local res = ""
    if type(var) == "string" then
        return '"' .. var .. '"'
    elseif type(var) == "number" then
        return "" .. var
    elseif type(var) == "function" then
        return '@'
    elseif type(var) == "boolean" then
        if var then
            return "true"
        else
            return "false"
        end
    elseif type(var) == "nil" then
        return nil
    elseif type(var) == "table" then
        -- ipairs   - indexed pairs
        -- pairs    - key named pairs
        res = "{"
        if not indexed then
            for k, v in pairs(var) do
                res = res .. dump(k) .. '=' .. dump(v) .. ','
            end
        end
        res = string.sub(res, 1, string.len(res)-1)
        res = res .. "}"
    else
        print(type(var))
    end
    return res
end
 
local socket = {my="test",table="example", "1", "2", "3"}
print(dump(socket))

Еще проще

function dump(o)
   if type(o) == 'table' then
      local s = '{ '
      for k,v in pairs(o) do
         if type(k) ~= 'number' then k = '"'..k..'"' end
         s = s .. '['..k..'] = ' .. dump(v) .. ','
      end
      return s .. '} '
   else
      return tostring(o)
   end
end