Minetest-WorldEditAdditions/worldeditadditions/utils/selector_helps.lua

-- Returns the player's facing direction on the horizontal axes only.
-- @param	name	string	The name of the player to return facing direction of.
-- @return	Returns axis name and sign multiplier.
function worldeditadditions.player_axis2d(name)
  -- minetest.get_player_by_name("singleplayer"):
	local dir = minetest.get_player_by_name(name):get_look_dir()
	local x, z= math.abs(dir.x), math.abs(dir.z)
	if x > z then return "x", dir.x > 0 and 1 or -1
	else return "z", dir.z > 0 and 1 or -1 end
end
-- Returns the axis and sign of the axis to the left of the input axis.
-- @param	axis	string	x or z.
-- @param sign	int	Sign multiplier.
-- @return	Returns axis name and sign multiplier.
function worldeditadditions.axis_left(axis,sign)
	if not axis:match("[xz]") then return false, "Error: Not a horizontal axis!"
	elseif axis == "x" then return true, "z", sign
	else return true, "x", -sign end
end

-- Tests
-- /lua print(unpack(worldeditadditions.player_axis2d(myname)))