Implementation Notes for GNU CLISP.

These notes document CLISP version 2.32.94.

Dr. Bruno Haible

Dr. Sam Steingold

These notes are covered by the GNU GFDL:

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF); with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Text, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License."


Table of Contents

Overview
I. Chapters or the Common Lisp HyperSpec
1. Introduction [CLHS-1]
1.1. Special Symbols [CLHS-1.4.1.3]
1.2. Error Terminology [CLHS-1.4.2]
1.3. Class Precedence Lists [CLHS-1.4.4.5]
1.4. Symbols in the Package COMMON-LISP [CLHS-1.9]
2. Syntax [CLHS-2]
2.1. Reader Algorithm [CLHS-2.2]
2.2. Symbols as Tokens [CLHS-2.3.4]
2.3. Valid Patterns for Tokens [CLHS-2.3.5]
2.4. Double-Quote [CLHS-2.4.5]
2.5. Backquote [CLHS-2.4.6]
2.6. Sharpsign [CLHS-2.4.8]
3. Evaluation and Compilation [CLHS-3]
3.1. Evaluation [CLHS-3.1]
3.1.1. Introduction to Environments [CLHS-3.1.1]
3.2. Compilation [CLHS-3.2]
3.2.1. Compiler Terminology [CLHS-3.2.1]
3.2.2. Compiler Macros [CLHS-3.2.2.1]
3.2.3. Definition of Similarity [CLHS-3.2.4.2.2]
3.3. Declarations [CLHS-3.3]
3.3.1. Additional declarations
3.4. Lambda Lists [CLHS-3.4]
3.4.1. Boa Lambda Lists [CLHS-3.4.6]
3.5. The Evaluation and Compilation Dictionary [CLHS-3.8]
3.5.1. Declaration SPECIAL
3.5.2. Function CONSTANTP.
3.5.3. Macro EVAL-WHEN
4. Types and Classes [CLHS-4]
4.1. Types [CLHS-4.2]
4.1.1. Type Specifiers [CLHS-4.2.3]
4.2. Classes [CLHS-4.3]
4.3. Deviations from ANSI CL standard
4.4. Standard Metaclasses [CLHS-4.3.1.1]
4.5. Defining Classes [CLHS-4.3.2]
4.6. Redefining Classes [CLHS-4.3.6]
4.7. The Types and Classes Dictionary [CLHS-4.4]
4.7.1. Function COERCE
5. Data and Control Flow [CLHS-5]
5.1. The Data and Control Flow Dictionary [CLHS-5.3]
5.1.1. Macro EXT:FCASE
5.1.2. Function EXT:XOR
5.1.3. Function EQ
5.1.4. Function SYMBOL-FUNCTION
5.1.5. Macro SETF
5.1.6. Special Operator FUNCTION
5.1.7. Macro DEFINE-SYMBOL-MACRO
5.1.8. Macro LAMBDA
5.1.9. Macros DEFUN & DEFMACRO
6. Iteration [CLHS-6]
7. Objects [CLHS-7]
7.1. Standard Method Combination [CLHS-7.6.6.2]
7.2. The Objects Dictionary [CLHS-7.7]
7.2.1. Generic function CLOS:CLASS-PROTOTYPE.
8. Structures [CLHS-8]
9. Conditions [CLHS-9]
9.1. Embedded Newlines in Condition Reports [CLHS-9.1.3.1.3]
9.2. The Conditions Dictionary [CLHS-9.2]
10. Symbols [CLHS-10]
11. Packages [CLHS-11]
11.1. Constraints on the COMMON-LISP Package for Conforming Programs - package locking [CLHS-11.1.2.1.2]
11.2. The COMMON-LISP-USER Package [CLHS-11.1.2.2]
11.3. Implementation-Defined Packages [CLHS-11.1.2.4]
11.4. The Packages Dictionary [CLHS-11.2]
11.4.1. Function MAKE-PACKAGE
11.4.2. Function EXT:RE-EXPORT
12. Numbers [CLHS-12]
12.1. Numeric Types
12.2. Number Concepts [CLHS-12.1]
12.2.1. Byte Operations on Integers [CLHS-12.1.1.3.2]
12.2.2. Rule of Float Substitutability [CLHS-12.1.3.3]
12.2.3. Floating-point Computations [CLHS-12.1.4]
12.2.4. Complex Computations [CLHS-12.1.5]
12.2.5. Rule of Canonical Representation for Complex Rationals [CLHS-12.1.5.3]
12.3. The Numbers Dictionary [CLHS-12.2]
12.3.1. Additional Integer Functions
12.3.2. Floating Point
12.3.3. Float Decoding [CLHS]
12.3.4. Boolean Operations [CLHS]
12.3.5. Fixnum Limits [CLHS]
12.3.6. Float Limits [CLHS]
12.3.7. Condition FLOATING-POINT-INVALID-OPERATION
12.3.8. Condition FLOATING-POINT-INEXACT
13. Characters [CLHS-13]
13.1. Attributes
13.2. Character Scripts [CLHS-13.1.2.1]
13.3. Character Attributes [CLHS-13.1.3]
13.4. Graphic Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.1]
13.5. Alphabetic Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.2]
13.6. Case of Implementation-Defined Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.3.4]
13.7. Numeric Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.4]
13.8. Ordering of Characters [CLHS-13.1.6]
13.9. Treatment of Newline during Input and Output [CLHS-13.1.8]
13.10. Character Encodings [CLHS-13.1.9]
13.11. Documentation of Implementation-Defined Scripts [CLHS-13.1.10]
13.12. The Characters Dictionary [CLHS-13.2]
13.13. Functions on characters
13.14. Platform-Dependent Characters
13.15. Obsolete Constants
14. Conses [CLHS-14]
14.1. The Conses Dictionary [CLHS-14.2]
14.1.1. Functions MAPCAR, MAPCAN, MAPLIST, MAPCON, ...
15. Arrays [CLHS-15]
15.1. Array Elements [CLHS-15.1.1]
15.2. The Arrays Dictionary [CLHS-15.2]
16. Strings [CLHS-16]
16.1. The Strings Dictionary [CLHS-16.2]
16.1.1. Functions on strings
17. Sequences [CLHS-17]
17.1. The Sequences Dictionary [CLHS-17.3]
17.1.1. Additional Macros
17.1.2. Functions NREVERSE & NRECONC
17.1.3. Functions REMOVE & DELETE
17.1.4. Functions SORT & STABLE-SORT
18. Hash Tables [CLHS-18]
18.1. The Hash Tables Dictionary [CLHS-18.2]
18.1.1. Function MAKE-HASH-TABLE
18.1.2. Macro EXT:DEFINE-HASH-TABLE-TEST
18.1.3. Function HASH-TABLE-TEST
18.1.4. Macro EXT:DOHASH
19. Filenames [CLHS-19]
19.1. Pathname Components [CLHS-19.2.1]
19.1.1. Directory canonicalization.
19.1.2. Platform-specific issues.
19.2. :UNSPECIFIC as a Component Value [CLHS-19.2.2.2.3]
19.3. External notation.
19.4. Logical Pathnames [CLHS-19.3]
19.5. The Filenames Dictionary [CLHS-19.4]
19.5.1. Function TRANSLATE-PATHNAME
19.5.2. Function PARSE-NAMESTRING
19.5.3. Function MERGE-PATHNAMES
19.5.4. Function LOAD-LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS
20. Files [CLHS-20]
20.1. The Files Dictionary [CLHS-20.2]
20.1.1. Function DIRECTORY
21. Streams [CLHS-21]
21.1. Interactive Streams [CLHS-21.1.1.1.3]
21.2. Terminal interaction.
21.3. The Streams Dictionary [CLHS-21.2]
21.3.1. Function STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE
21.3.2. Function EXT:MAKE-STREAM
21.3.3. Binary input, READ-BYTE, EXT:READ-INTEGER & EXT:READ-FLOAT
21.3.4. Binary output, WRITE-BYTE, EXT:WRITE-INTEGER & EXT:WRITE-FLOAT
21.3.5. Bulk Input and Output
21.3.6. Non-Blocking Input and Output
21.3.7. Function FILE-POSITION
21.3.8. Function OPEN
21.3.9. Function CLOSE
21.3.10. Function OPEN-STREAM-P
21.3.11. Class BROADCAST-STREAM
21.3.12. Functions EXT:MAKE-BUFFERED-INPUT-STREAM and EXT:MAKE-BUFFERED-OUTPUT-STREAM
22. Printer [CLHS-22]
22.1. Multiple Possible Textual Representations [CLHS-22.1.1.1]
22.2. Printing Other Vectors [CLHS-22.1.3.7]
22.3. Printing Other Arrays [CLHS-22.1.3.8]
22.4. The Lisp Pretty Printer [CLHS-22.2]
22.4.1. Pretty Print Dispatch Table [CLHS-22.2.1.4]
22.5. The Printer Dictionary [CLHS-22.4]
22.5.1. Function FORMAT
22.5.2. pathnames
22.5.3. Miscellaneous Issues
23. Reader [CLHS-23]
23.1. characters
23.2. Additional read dispatch macros
23.3. Function READTABLE-CASE
24. System Construction [CLHS-24]
24.1. The System Construction Dictionary [CLHS-24.2]
24.1.1. Function COMPILE-FILE
24.1.2. Function COMPILE-FILE-PATHNAME
24.1.3. Function REQUIRE
24.1.4. Function LOAD
24.1.5. Variable *FEATURES*
25. Environment [CLHS-25]
25.1. Debugging Utilities [CLHS-25.1.2]
25.2. The Environment Dictionary [CLHS-25.2]
25.2.1. Function DISASSEMBLE
25.2.2. Function EXT:UNCOMPILE
25.2.3. Function DOCUMENTATION
25.2.4. Macro TRACE
25.2.5. Function INSPECT
25.2.6. Function ROOM
25.2.7. Macro TIME
25.2.8. Function ED
25.2.9. Clock Time
25.2.10. Machine
25.2.11. Functions APROPOS & APROPOS-LIST
25.2.12. Function DRIBBLE
25.2.13. Function LISP-IMPLEMENTATION-VERSION
25.2.14. Function EXT:ARGV
26. Glossary [CLHS-26]
27. Appendix [CLHS-a]
28. X3J13 Issue Index [CLHS-ic]
II. Extensions
29. Extensions-1: Platform independent Extensions
29.1. Extensions-1.1. Saving an Image
29.2. Extensions-1.2. Quitting CLISP
29.3. Extensions-1.3. Internationalization
29.3.1. The GNU gettext
29.3.2. The Language
29.4. Extensions-1.4. Encodings
29.4.1. Introduction
29.4.2. Character Sets
29.4.3. Line Terminators
29.4.4. Function EXT:MAKE-ENCODING.
29.4.5. Function EXT:ENCODING-CHARSET.
29.4.6. Default encodings.
29.4.7. Converting between strings and byte vectors
29.5. Extensions-1.5. Defining new kinds of Streams
29.5.1. Gray streams
29.5.2. Generic streams
29.6. Extensions-1.6. Weak Pointers
29.7. Extensions-1.7. Finalization
29.8. Extensions-1.8. The Prompt
29.9. Extensions-1.9. Maximum ANSI CL compliance
29.10. Extensions-1.10. Additional Fancy Macros
29.11. Extensions-1.11. Customizing CLISP behavior.
29.12. Extensions-1.12. Code Walker
30. Extensions-2: Platform specific Extensions
30.1. Extensions-2.1. Random Screen Access
30.2. Extensions-2.2. External Modules
30.2.1. Overview
30.2.2. Function EXT:MODULE-INFO
30.2.3. Function SYS::DYNLOAD-MODULES
30.2.4. Example
30.2.5. Module tools
30.2.6. Modules included in the distribution.
30.3. Extensions-2.3. The Foreign Function Call Facility
30.3.1. Overview
30.3.2. (Foreign) C types
30.3.3. The choice of the C flavor.
30.3.4. Foreign variables
30.3.5. Operations on foreign places
30.3.6. Foreign functions
30.3.7. Argument and result passing conventions
30.3.8. Parameter Mode
30.3.9. Examples
30.4. Extensions-2.4. The Amiga Foreign Function Call Facility
30.4.1. Design issues
30.4.2. Overview
30.4.3. Foreign Libraries
30.4.4. (Foreign) C types
30.4.5. Foreign functions
30.4.6. Memory access
30.4.7. Function Definition Files
30.4.8. Hints
30.4.9. Caveats
30.4.10. Examples
30.5. Extensions-2.5. Socket Streams
30.6. Extensions-2.6. Quickstarting delivery with CLISP
30.7. Extensions-2.7. Application delivery with CLISP
30.8. Extensions-2.8. Shell, Pipes and Printing
30.8.1. Shell
30.8.2. Pipes
30.8.3. Printing
30.9. Extensions-2.9. Operating System Environment.
30.10. Extensions-2.10. Other
III. Internals of the CLISP Implementation
31. Overview of CLISP's Garbage Collection
31.1. Introduction
31.2. Lisp objects in CLISP
31.3. Memory Models
31.4. The burden of garbage-collection upon the rest of CLISP
31.5. Foreign Pointers
32. Extending CLISP.
32.1. Adding a built-in function.
32.2. Adding a built-in variable.
32.3. Recompilation.
33. The CLISP bytecode specification
33.1. Introduction
33.2. The virtual machine
33.3. The structure of compiled functions
33.4. The general structure of the instructions
33.5. The instruction set
33.5.1. Instructions for constants
33.5.2. Instructions for lexical variables
33.5.3. Instructions for dynamic variables
33.5.4. Instructions for stack operations
33.5.5. Instructions for control flow, jumps
33.5.6. Instructions for lexical environment, creation of closures
33.5.7. Instructions for function calls
33.5.8. Instructions for optional and keyword parameters
33.5.9. Instructions for multiple values
33.5.10. Instructions for BLOCK and RETURN-FROM
33.5.11. Instructions for TAGBODY and GO
33.5.12. Instructions for CATCH and THROW
33.5.13. Instructions for UNWIND-PROTECT
33.5.14. Instructions for HANDLER-BIND
33.5.15. Instructions for some inlined functions
33.5.16. Combined instructions
33.5.17. Shortcut instructions
A. GNU Free Documentation License
A.1. PREAMBLE
A.2. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
A.3. VERBATIM COPYING
A.4. COPYING IN QUANTITY
A.5. MODIFICATIONS
A.6. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
A.7. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
A.8. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
A.9. TRANSLATION
A.10. TERMINATION
A.11. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
A.12. ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
Index
References

List of Tables

5.1. Function call limits
12.1. Boolean Operations
12.2. Fixnum limits
13.1. Standard characters
13.2. Semi-standard characters
13.3. Additional Named Characters
13.4. Additional syntax for characters with code from #x00 to #x1F:
13.5. Number of characters
13.6. Platform dependent characters: Win32 platforms.
13.7. Platform dependent characters: UNIX platforms.
13.8. Character bit constants (obsolete)
15.1. Array limits
19.1. The minimum filename syntax that may be used portably
23.1. Unreadable objects
25.1. Commands common to the main loop, the debugger and the stepper
25.2. Commands common to the debugger and the stepper
25.3. Commands common to the debugger and the stepper
25.4. Commands specific to EVAL/APPLY
25.5. Commands specific to the debugger
25.6. Commands specific to the stepper
25.7. Time granularity
31.1. Memory models with TYPECODES
31.2. Memory models with no TYPECODES

List of Examples

29.1. prog.lisp
29.2. prog.lisp
29.3. prog.lisp
29.4. prog.pot
29.5. prog.fr.po
30.1. REGEXP:MATCH
30.2. REGEXP:REGEXP-QUOTE
30.3. shell-count.lisp
30.4. shell-count.perl
30.5. Simple declarations and access
30.6. external C variable and some accesses
30.7. Calling an external function
30.8. Another example for calling an external function
30.9. Calling Lisp from C
30.10. Calling Lisp from C dynamically
30.11. Variable size arguments: calling gethostname from CLISP
30.12. Accessing variables in shared libraries.
30.13. Using a predefined library function file
30.14. Using flibcall
30.15. Be fully dynamic, defining library bases ourselves
30.16. Some sample function definitions

Overview

These notes discuss the CLISP implementation of Common Lisp by

Bruno's address


 Dr Bruno Haible
 Louisenstraße 103
 Bad Homburg
 D-61348 Germany
 http://www.haible.de/bruno/

and

Michael's address


 Dr Michael Stoll
 Westerwaldweg 22
 Remagen-Oberwinter
 D-53424 Germany
 http://www.math.uni-duesseldorf.de/~stoll/

The current maintainers are

Bruno's title


  Dr Bruno Haible

and

Sam's address


  Dr Sam Steingold
  http://www.podval.org/~sds/

This implementation is mostly conforming to the [ANSI CL standard] available on-line as the [Common Lisp HyperSpec] (but the printed ANSI document remains the authoritative source of information). [ANSI CL standard] supersedes the earlier specifications [CLtL1] and [CLtL2].

The first part of these notes is indexed in parallel to the [Common Lisp HyperSpec] and documents how CLISP implements the standard [ANSI CL standard].

The second part documents the CLISP extensions, i.e., the functionality that goes beyond the [ANSI CL standard] requirements.

The third part is intended mostly for developers as it documents the CLISP internals, e.g., garbage-collection, adding new built-ins, and the bytecodes generated by the compiler (i.e., what is printed by DISASSEMBLE).

Chapters or the [Common Lisp HyperSpec]

Table of Contents

1. Introduction [CLHS-1]
1.1. Special Symbols [CLHS-1.4.1.3]
1.2. Error Terminology [CLHS-1.4.2]
1.3. Class Precedence Lists [CLHS-1.4.4.5]
1.4. Symbols in the Package COMMON-LISP [CLHS-1.9]
2. Syntax [CLHS-2]
2.1. Reader Algorithm [CLHS-2.2]
2.2. Symbols as Tokens [CLHS-2.3.4]
2.3. Valid Patterns for Tokens [CLHS-2.3.5]
2.4. Double-Quote [CLHS-2.4.5]
2.5. Backquote [CLHS-2.4.6]
2.6. Sharpsign [CLHS-2.4.8]
3. Evaluation and Compilation [CLHS-3]
3.1. Evaluation [CLHS-3.1]
3.1.1. Introduction to Environments [CLHS-3.1.1]
3.2. Compilation [CLHS-3.2]
3.2.1. Compiler Terminology [CLHS-3.2.1]
3.2.2. Compiler Macros [CLHS-3.2.2.1]
3.2.3. Definition of Similarity [CLHS-3.2.4.2.2]
3.3. Declarations [CLHS-3.3]
3.3.1. Additional declarations
3.4. Lambda Lists [CLHS-3.4]
3.4.1. Boa Lambda Lists [CLHS-3.4.6]
3.5. The Evaluation and Compilation Dictionary [CLHS-3.8]
3.5.1. Declaration SPECIAL
3.5.2. Function CONSTANTP.
3.5.3. Macro EVAL-WHEN
4. Types and Classes [CLHS-4]
4.1. Types [CLHS-4.2]
4.1.1. Type Specifiers [CLHS-4.2.3]
4.2. Classes [CLHS-4.3]
4.3. Deviations from ANSI CL standard
4.4. Standard Metaclasses [CLHS-4.3.1.1]
4.5. Defining Classes [CLHS-4.3.2]
4.6. Redefining Classes [CLHS-4.3.6]
4.7. The Types and Classes Dictionary [CLHS-4.4]
4.7.1. Function COERCE
5. Data and Control Flow [CLHS-5]
5.1. The Data and Control Flow Dictionary [CLHS-5.3]
5.1.1. Macro EXT:FCASE
5.1.2. Function EXT:XOR
5.1.3. Function EQ
5.1.4. Function SYMBOL-FUNCTION
5.1.5. Macro SETF
5.1.6. Special Operator FUNCTION
5.1.7. Macro DEFINE-SYMBOL-MACRO
5.1.8. Macro LAMBDA
5.1.9. Macros DEFUN & DEFMACRO
6. Iteration [CLHS-6]
7. Objects [CLHS-7]
7.1. Standard Method Combination [CLHS-7.6.6.2]
7.2. The Objects Dictionary [CLHS-7.7]
7.2.1. Generic function CLOS:CLASS-PROTOTYPE.
8. Structures [CLHS-8]
9. Conditions [CLHS-9]
9.1. Embedded Newlines in Condition Reports [CLHS-9.1.3.1.3]
9.2. The Conditions Dictionary [CLHS-9.2]
10. Symbols [CLHS-10]
11. Packages [CLHS-11]
11.1. Constraints on the COMMON-LISP Package for Conforming Programs - package locking [CLHS-11.1.2.1.2]
11.2. The COMMON-LISP-USER Package [CLHS-11.1.2.2]
11.3. Implementation-Defined Packages [CLHS-11.1.2.4]
11.4. The Packages Dictionary [CLHS-11.2]
11.4.1. Function MAKE-PACKAGE
11.4.2. Function EXT:RE-EXPORT
12. Numbers [CLHS-12]
12.1. Numeric Types
12.2. Number Concepts [CLHS-12.1]
12.2.1. Byte Operations on Integers [CLHS-12.1.1.3.2]
12.2.2. Rule of Float Substitutability [CLHS-12.1.3.3]
12.2.3. Floating-point Computations [CLHS-12.1.4]
12.2.4. Complex Computations [CLHS-12.1.5]
12.2.5. Rule of Canonical Representation for Complex Rationals [CLHS-12.1.5.3]
12.3. The Numbers Dictionary [CLHS-12.2]
12.3.1. Additional Integer Functions
12.3.2. Floating Point
12.3.3. Float Decoding [CLHS]
12.3.4. Boolean Operations [CLHS]
12.3.5. Fixnum Limits [CLHS]
12.3.6. Float Limits [CLHS]
12.3.7. Condition FLOATING-POINT-INVALID-OPERATION
12.3.8. Condition FLOATING-POINT-INEXACT
13. Characters [CLHS-13]
13.1. Attributes
13.2. Character Scripts [CLHS-13.1.2.1]
13.3. Character Attributes [CLHS-13.1.3]
13.4. Graphic Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.1]
13.5. Alphabetic Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.2]
13.6. Case of Implementation-Defined Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.3.4]
13.7. Numeric Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.4]
13.8. Ordering of Characters [CLHS-13.1.6]
13.9. Treatment of Newline during Input and Output [CLHS-13.1.8]
13.10. Character Encodings [CLHS-13.1.9]
13.11. Documentation of Implementation-Defined Scripts [CLHS-13.1.10]
13.12. The Characters Dictionary [CLHS-13.2]
13.13. Functions on characters
13.14. Platform-Dependent Characters
13.15. Obsolete Constants
14. Conses [CLHS-14]
14.1. The Conses Dictionary [CLHS-14.2]
14.1.1. Functions MAPCAR, MAPCAN, MAPLIST, MAPCON, ...
15. Arrays [CLHS-15]
15.1. Array Elements [CLHS-15.1.1]
15.2. The Arrays Dictionary [CLHS-15.2]
16. Strings [CLHS-16]
16.1. The Strings Dictionary [CLHS-16.2]
16.1.1. Functions on strings
17. Sequences [CLHS-17]
17.1. The Sequences Dictionary [CLHS-17.3]
17.1.1. Additional Macros
17.1.2. Functions NREVERSE & NRECONC
17.1.3. Functions REMOVE & DELETE
17.1.4. Functions SORT & STABLE-SORT
18. Hash Tables [CLHS-18]
18.1. The Hash Tables Dictionary [CLHS-18.2]
18.1.1. Function MAKE-HASH-TABLE
18.1.2. Macro EXT:DEFINE-HASH-TABLE-TEST
18.1.3. Function HASH-TABLE-TEST
18.1.4. Macro EXT:DOHASH
19. Filenames [CLHS-19]
19.1. Pathname Components [CLHS-19.2.1]
19.1.1. Directory canonicalization.
19.1.2. Platform-specific issues.
19.2. :UNSPECIFIC as a Component Value [CLHS-19.2.2.2.3]
19.3. External notation.
19.4. Logical Pathnames [CLHS-19.3]
19.5. The Filenames Dictionary [CLHS-19.4]
19.5.1. Function TRANSLATE-PATHNAME
19.5.2. Function PARSE-NAMESTRING
19.5.3. Function MERGE-PATHNAMES
19.5.4. Function LOAD-LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS
20. Files [CLHS-20]
20.1. The Files Dictionary [CLHS-20.2]
20.1.1. Function DIRECTORY
21. Streams [CLHS-21]
21.1. Interactive Streams [CLHS-21.1.1.1.3]
21.2. Terminal interaction.
21.3. The Streams Dictionary [CLHS-21.2]
21.3.1. Function STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE
21.3.2. Function EXT:MAKE-STREAM
21.3.3. Binary input, READ-BYTE, EXT:READ-INTEGER & EXT:READ-FLOAT
21.3.4. Binary output, WRITE-BYTE, EXT:WRITE-INTEGER & EXT:WRITE-FLOAT
21.3.5. Bulk Input and Output
21.3.6. Non-Blocking Input and Output
21.3.7. Function FILE-POSITION
21.3.8. Function OPEN
21.3.9. Function CLOSE
21.3.10. Function OPEN-STREAM-P
21.3.11. Class BROADCAST-STREAM
21.3.12. Functions EXT:MAKE-BUFFERED-INPUT-STREAM and EXT:MAKE-BUFFERED-OUTPUT-STREAM
22. Printer [CLHS-22]
22.1. Multiple Possible Textual Representations [CLHS-22.1.1.1]
22.2. Printing Other Vectors [CLHS-22.1.3.7]
22.3. Printing Other Arrays [CLHS-22.1.3.8]
22.4. The Lisp Pretty Printer [CLHS-22.2]
22.4.1. Pretty Print Dispatch Table [CLHS-22.2.1.4]
22.5. The Printer Dictionary [CLHS-22.4]
22.5.1. Function FORMAT
22.5.2. pathnames
22.5.3. Miscellaneous Issues
23. Reader [CLHS-23]
23.1. characters
23.2. Additional read dispatch macros
23.3. Function READTABLE-CASE
24. System Construction [CLHS-24]
24.1. The System Construction Dictionary [CLHS-24.2]
24.1.1. Function COMPILE-FILE
24.1.2. Function COMPILE-FILE-PATHNAME
24.1.3. Function REQUIRE
24.1.4. Function LOAD
24.1.5. Variable *FEATURES*
25. Environment [CLHS-25]
25.1. Debugging Utilities [CLHS-25.1.2]
25.2. The Environment Dictionary [CLHS-25.2]
25.2.1. Function DISASSEMBLE
25.2.2. Function EXT:UNCOMPILE
25.2.3. Function DOCUMENTATION
25.2.4. Macro TRACE
25.2.5. Function INSPECT
25.2.6. Function ROOM
25.2.7. Macro TIME
25.2.8. Function ED
25.2.9. Clock Time
25.2.10. Machine
25.2.11. Functions APROPOS & APROPOS-LIST
25.2.12. Function DRIBBLE
25.2.13. Function LISP-IMPLEMENTATION-VERSION
25.2.14. Function EXT:ARGV
26. Glossary [CLHS-26]
27. Appendix [CLHS-a]
28. X3J13 Issue Index [CLHS-ic]

Chapter 1. Introduction [CLHS-1]

1.1. Special Symbols [CLHS-1.4.1.3]

The final delimiter of an interactive stream: On UNIX, the user has to type Control-D at the beginning of a line. On Win32, the user has to type Control-Z, followed by Return. This final delimiter is never actually seen by programs; no need to test for #\^D or #\^Z - use READ-CHAR-NO-HANG to check for end of stream. Calling CLEAR-INPUT on the stream removes the end-of-stream state, thus making it available for further input.

A newline character can be entered by the user by pressing the Newline key or, on the numeric keypad, the Enter key.

1.2. Error Terminology [CLHS-1.4.2]

Safety settings are ignored; therefore where the standard uses the phrase “should signal an error”, an ERROR is SIGNALed.

1.3. Class Precedence Lists [CLHS-1.4.4.5]

The class precedence lists of the system classes CLASS BUILT-IN-CLASS, STRUCTURE-CLASS, STANDARD-CLASS, STANDARD-METHOD contain the class STRUCTURE-OBJECT instead of the class STANDARD-OBJECT.

1.4. Symbols in the Package COMMON-LISP [CLHS-1.9]

All 978 symbols in the COMMON-LISP package specified by the [ANSI CL standard] are implemented.

Chapter 2. Syntax [CLHS-2]

2.1. Reader Algorithm [CLHS-2.2]

The requirement of step 4 that a “reader macro function may return zero values or one valueis enforced. You can use the function VALUES to control the number of values returned.

2.2. Symbols as Tokens [CLHS-2.3.4]

A "reserved token", i.e., a token that has potential number syntax but cannot be interpreted as a NUMBER, is interpreted as SYMBOL when being read.

When creating a symbol from a token, no character attributes are removed.

2.3. Valid Patterns for Tokens [CLHS-2.3.5]

When a token with package markers is read, then no checking is done whether the package part and the symbol-name part do not have number syntax. (What's the purpose of this check?) So we consider tokens like USER:: or :1 or LISP::4711 or 21:3 as symbols.

2.4. Double-Quote [CLHS-2.4.5]

When a string is read, no character attributes are removed.

2.5. Backquote [CLHS-2.4.6]

The backquote read macro also works when nested. Example:

   (EVAL ``(,#'(LAMBDA () ',a) ,#'(LAMBDA () ',b)))
 = (EVAL `(list #'(LAMBDA () ',a) #'(LAMBDA () ',b)))
 = (EVAL (list 'list (list 'function (list 'lambda nil (list 'quote a)))
                     (list 'function (list 'lambda nil (list 'quote b)))))

2.6. Sharpsign [CLHS-2.4.8]

Reader macros are also defined for the following:

Additional reader macros

#,
load-time evaluation, kept despite the [ANSI CL standard] issue SHARP-COMMA-CONFUSION:REMOVE
#Y
function objects and file EXT:ENCODINGs
#""
PATHNAME

Chapter 3. Evaluation and Compilation [CLHS-3]

All the functions built by FUNCTION, COMPILE and the like are atoms. There are built-in functions written in C, compiled functions (both of type COMPILED-FUNCTION) and interpreted functions (of type FUNCTION).

3.1. Evaluation [CLHS-3.1]

3.1.1. Introduction to Environments [CLHS-3.1.1]

Macro EXT:THE-ENVIRONMENTAs in Scheme, the macro (EXT:THE-ENVIRONMENT) returns the current lexical environment. This works only in interpreted code and is not compilable!

Function (EXT:EVAL-ENV form &OPTIONAL env)evaluates a form in a given lexical environment, just as if the form had been a part of the program that the environment came from.

3.2. Compilation [CLHS-3.2]

3.2.1. Compiler Terminology [CLHS-3.2.1]

CLISP compiles to platform-independent byte-code.

3.2.2. Compiler Macros [CLHS-3.2.2.1]

Compiler macros are expanded in the compiled code only, and ignored by the interpreter.

3.2.3. Definition of Similarity [CLHS-3.2.4.2.2]

Hash tables are externalizable objects.

3.3. Declarations [CLHS-3.3]

The declarations (TYPE type variable ...), (FTYPE type function ...), (OPTIMIZE (quality value) ...) are ignored by the interpreter and the compiler.

The [ANSI CL standard] declaration (OPTIMIZE (debug ...)) is legal.

The [ANSI CL standard] declaration (IGNORABLE variable ...) affects the variable binding for the variable variable. The compiler will not warn about the variable, regardless whether it is used or not.

3.3.1. Additional declarations

The declaration (COMPILE) has the effect that the current form is compiled prior to execution. Examples:

 (LOCALLY (DECLARE (compile)) form)

executes a compiled version of form.

(LET ((x 0))
  (FLET ((inc () (DECLARE (compile)) (INCF x))
         (dec () (DECF x)))
    (VALUES #'inc #'dec)))

returns two functions. The first is compiled and increments x, the second is interpreted (slower) and decrements the same x.

The type assertion (THE value-type form) enforces a type check in interpreted code. No type check is done in compiled code. See also the EXT:ETHE macro.

3.4. Lambda Lists [CLHS-3.4]

3.4.1. Boa Lambda Lists [CLHS-3.4.6]

The initial value of an &AUX variable in a boa lambda list is the value of the corresponding slot's initial form.

3.5. The Evaluation and Compilation Dictionary [CLHS-3.8]

3.5.1. Declaration SPECIAL

(PROCLAIM '(SPECIAL variable)) declarations cannot be undone. The same holds for DEFVAR, DEFPARAMETER and DEFCONSTANT declarations.

It is an error if a DEFCONSTANT variable is bound at the moment the DEFCONSTANT is executed, but DEFCONSTANT does not check this.

constant variables may not be bound dynamically or lexically.

Function EXT:SPECIAL-VARIABLE-PYou can use the function (EXT:SPECIAL-VARIABLE-P symbol &OPTIONAL env) to check whether the symbol is a special variable. env of NIL or omitted means use the global environment, T means use current lexical environment. You can also obtain the current lexical environment using the macro EXT:THE-ENVIRONMENT (interpreted code only). This function will always return T for global special variables and constants. Note that this function will not work in compiled code as you expect: when called with NIL env, it will be called at run time and check for globally special variables, but when env is T, it will be called at compile time and the value will be used as a constant in the code.

3.5.2. Function CONSTANTP.

Function CONSTANTP fully complies with [ANSI CL standard]. Additionally, some non-trivial forms are identified as constants, e.g., (CONSTANTP '(+ 1 2 3)) returns T.

3.5.3. Macro EVAL-WHEN

EVAL-WHEN also accepts the situations (NOT EVAL) and (NOT COMPILE).

Warning

Note that the situations EVAL, LOAD and COMPILE are deprecated by the spec, and they are not equivalent to the new standard situations :EXECUTE, :LOAD-TOPLEVEL and :COMPILE-TOPLEVEL in that they ignore the top-level versus non-top-level distinction.

Chapter 4. Types and Classes [CLHS-4]

4.1. Types [CLHS-4.2]

4.1.1. Type Specifiers [CLHS-4.2.3]

The general form of the COMPLEX type specifier is (COMPLEX type-of-real-part type-of-imaginary-part). The type specifier (COMPLEX type) is equivalent to (COMPLEX type type).

The [ANSI CL standard] type specifier (REAL low high) denotes the real numbers between low and high.

DEFTYPE lambda lists are subject to destructuring (nested lambda lists are allowed, as in DEFMACRO) and may contain a &WHOLE marker, but not an &ENVIRONMENT marker.

Function (EXT:TYPE-EXPAND typespec &OPTIONAL once-p)If typespec is a user-defined type, this will expand it recursively until it is no longer a user-defined type (unless once-p is supplied and non-NIL). Two values are returned - the expansion and an indicator (T or NIL) of whether the original typespec was a user-defined type.

4.2. Classes [CLHS-4.3]

The CLOS symbols are EXPORTed from the package CLOS. COMMON-LISP uses (as in USE-PACKAGE) CLOS and EXT:RE-EXPORTs the [ANSI CL standard] standard exported symbols (the CLISP extensions, e.g., CLOS:CLASS-PROTOTYPE, are not EXT:RE-EXPORTed). Since the default :USE argument to MAKE-PACKAGE is COMMON-LISP, the standard CLOS symbols are normally visible in all user-defined packages. If you do not want them (for example, if you want to use the PCL implementation of CLOS instead of the native one), do the following:

(DEFPACKAGE "CL-NO-CLOS" (:use "CL"))
(DO-EXTERNAL-SYMBOLS (symbol COMMON-LISP)
  (SHADOW symbol "CL-NO-CLOS"))
(DO-SYMBOLS (symbol "CL-NO-CLOS")
  (EXPORT symbol "CL-NO-CLOS"))
(IN-PACKAGE "CL-NO-CLOS")
(LOAD "pcl") ; or whatever
(DEFPACKAGE "MY-USER" (:use "CL-NO-CLOS"))
(IN-PACKAGE "MY-USER")
;; your code which uses PCL goes here

.

4.3. Deviations from [ANSI CL standard]

DEFCLASS supports the option :METACLASS STRUCTURE-CLASS. This option is necessary in order to define a subclass of a DEFSTRUCT-defined structure type using DEFCLASS instead of DEFSTRUCT.

When CALL-NEXT-METHOD is called with arguments, the rule that the ordered set of applicable methods must be the same as for the original arguments is enforced by the implementation only in interpreted code.

CLOS:GENERIC-FLET and CLOS:GENERIC-LABELS are implemented as macros, not as special operators (as permitted by Section 3.1.2.1.2.2). They are not imported into the packages COMMON-LISP-USER and COMMON-LISP because of the [ANSI CL standard] issue GENERIC-FLET-POORLY-DESIGNED:DELETE.

PRINT-OBJECT is only called on objects of type STANDARD-OBJECT and STRUCTURE-OBJECT. It is not called on other objects, like CONSes and NUMBERs, due to the performance concerns.

4.5. Defining Classes [CLHS-4.3.2]

DEFCLASS supports the :METACLASS option. Possible values are STANDARD-CLASS (the default) and STRUCTURE-CLASS (which creates structure classes, like DEFSTRUCT does).

It is not required that the superclasses of a class are defined before the DEFCLASS form for the class is evaluated. Use [Metaobject Protocol] generic functions CLOS:CLASS-FINALIZED-P to check whether the class has been finalized and thus its instances can be created, and CLOS:FINALIZE-INHERITANCE to force class finalization.

4.6. Redefining Classes [CLHS-4.3.6]

Trivial changes, e.g., those that can occur when doubly loading the same code, do not require updating the instances. These are the changes that do not modify the set of local slots accessible in instances, e.g., changes to slot options :INITFORM, :DOCUMENTATION, and changes to class options :DEFAULT-INITARGS, :DOCUMENTATION.

The instances are updated when they are first accessed, not at the time when the class is redefined or MAKE-INSTANCES-OBSOLETE is called. When the class has been redefined several times since the instance was last accessed, UPDATE-INSTANCE-FOR-REDEFINED-CLASS is still called just once.

4.7. The Types and Classes Dictionary [CLHS-4.4]

4.7.1. Function COERCE

FIXNUM is not a character designator in [ANSI CL standard], although CODE-CHAR provides an obvious venue to COERCE a FIXNUM to a CHARACTER. When CUSTOM:*COERCE-FIXNUM-CHAR-ANSI* is NIL, CLISP COERCEs FIXNUMs to CHARACTERs via CODE-CHAR. When CUSTOM:*COERCE-FIXNUM-CHAR-ANSI* is non-NIL, FIXNUMs cannot be COERCEd to CHARACTERs.

Chapter 5. Data and Control Flow [CLHS-5]

5.1. The Data and Control Flow Dictionary [CLHS-5.3]

Function FUNCTION-LAMBDA-EXPRESSIONThe name of a FFI:FOREIGN-FUNCTION is a string (the name of the underlying C function), not a lisp function name.

Macro DESTRUCTURING-BINDThis macro does not perform full error checking.

Macros PROG1, PROG2, AND, OR, PSETQ, WHEN, UNLESS, COND, CASE, MULTIPLE-VALUE-LIST, MULTIPLE-VALUE-BIND, MULTIPLE-VALUE-SETQThese macros are implemented as special operators (as permitted by Section 3.1.2.1.2.2) and, as such, are rather efficient.

Macro DEFCONSTANTThe initial value is not evaluated at compile time, just like with DEFVAR and DEFPARAMETER. Use EVAL-WHEN if you need the value at compile time.

5.1.1. Macro EXT:FCASE

This macro allows specifying the test for CASE, e.g.,

(fcase string= (subseq foo 0 (position #\Space foo))
  ("first" 1)
  (("second" "two") 2)
  (("true" "yes") t)
  (otherwise nil))

is the same as

(let ((var (subseq foo 0 (position #\Space foo))))
  (cond ((string= var "first") 1)
        ((or (string= var "second") (string= var "two")) 2)
        ((or (string= var "true") (string= var "yes")) t)
        (t nil)))

5.1.2. Function EXT:XOR

This function checks that exactly one of its arguments is non-NIL and, if this is the case, returns its value and index in the argument list as multiple values, otherwise returns NIL.

5.1.3. Function EQ

EQ compares CHARACTERs and FIXNUMs as EQL does. No unnecessary copies are made of CHARACTERs and NUMBERs. Nevertheless, one should use EQL as it is more portable across Common Lisp implementations.

(let ((x y)) (eq x x)) always returns T, regardless of y.

Note that (eq x x) might not be T for a FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE x.

5.1.4. Function SYMBOL-FUNCTION

(SETF (SYMBOL-FUNCTION symbol) object) requires object to be either a function, a SYMBOL-FUNCTION return value or a lambda expression. The lambda expression is thereby immediately converted to a FUNCTION.

5.1.5. Macro SETF

Additional places:

FUNCALL
(SETF (FUNCALL #'symbol ...) object) and (SETF (FUNCALL 'symbol ...) object) are equivalent to (SETF (symbol ...) object).
PROGN
(SETF (PROGN form ... place) object)
LOCALLY
(SETF (LOCALLY declaration ... form ... place) object)
IF
(SETF (IF condition place1 place2) object)
GET-DISPATCH-MACRO-CHARACTER
(SETF (GET-DISPATCH-MACRO-CHARACTER ...) ...) calls SET-DISPATCH-MACRO-CHARACTER.
EXT:LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS:
(SETF (EXT:LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS) digits) sets the default mantissa length of long floats to digits bits.
VALUES-LIST
(SETF (VALUES-LIST list) form) is equivalent to (VALUES-LIST (SETF list (MULTIPLE-VALUE-LIST form)))

&KEY markers in DEFSETF lambda lists are supported, but the corresponding keywords must appear literally in the program text.

(GET-SETF-EXPANSION form &OPTIONAL env), (EXT:GET-SETF-METHOD form &OPTIONAL env), and (EXT:GET-SETF-METHOD-MULTIPLE-VALUE form &OPTIONAL env) receive as optional argument env the environment necessary for macro expansions. In DEFINE-SETF-EXPANDER and EXT:DEFINE-SETF-METHOD lambda lists, one can specify &ENVIRONMENT and a variable, which will be bound to the environment. This environment should be passed to all calls of GET-SETF-EXPANSION, EXT:GET-SETF-METHOD and EXT:GET-SETF-METHOD-MULTIPLE-VALUE. If this is done, even local macros will be interpreted as places correctly.

Attempts to modify read-only data will SIGNAL an ERROR. Program text and quoted constants loaded from files are considered read-only data. This check is only performed for strings, not for conses, other kinds of arrays, and user-defined data types.

See also the EXT:LETF and EXT:LETF* macros.

5.1.6. Special Operator FUNCTION

(FUNCTION symbol) returns the local function definition established by FLET or LABELS, if it exists, otherwise the global function definition.

(SPECIAL-OPERATOR-P symbol) returns NIL or T. If it returns T, then (SYMBOL-FUNCTION symbol) returns the (useless) special operator handler.

5.1.7. Macro DEFINE-SYMBOL-MACRO

The macro DEFINE-SYMBOL-MACRO establishes SYMBOL-MACROs with global scope (as opposed to SYMBOL-MACROs defined with SYMBOL-MACROLET, which have local scope): (DEFINE-SYMBOL-MACRO symbol expansion).

The function EXT:SYMBOL-MACRO-EXPAND tests for a SYMBOL-MACRO: If symbol is defined as a SYMBOL-MACRO, (EXT:SYMBOL-MACRO-EXPAND symbol) returns two values, T and the expansion; otherwise it returns NIL.

Calling BOUNDP on a symbol defined as a SYMBOL-MACRO returns T.

Calling SYMBOL-VALUE on a symbol defined as a SYMBOL-MACRO returns the value of the expansion. Calling SET on a symbol defined as a SYMBOL-MACRO calls SETF on the expansion.

Calling MAKUNBOUND on a symbol defined as a SYMBOL-MACRO removes the SYMBOL-MACRO definition.

5.1.9. Macros DEFUN & DEFMACRO

DEFUN and DEFMACRO are allowed in non-toplevel positions. As an example, consider the old ([CLtL1]) definition of GENSYM:

(let ((gensym-prefix "G")
      (gensym-count 1))
  (defun gensym (&optional (x nil s))
    (when s
      (cond ((stringp x) (setq gensym-prefix x))
            ((integerp x)
             (if (minusp x)
               (error "~S: index ~S is negative" 'gensym x)
               (setq gensym-count x)))
            (t (error "~S: argument ~S of wrong type" 'gensym x))))
    (prog1
      (make-symbol
        (concatenate 'string
          gensym-prefix
          (write-to-string gensym-count :base 10 :radix nil)))
      (incf gensym-count))))

Variable CUSTOM:*SUPPRESS-CHECK-REDEFINITION*When CUSTOM:*SUPPRESS-CHECK-REDEFINITION* is NIL, CLISP issues a WARNING when a function (macro, variable, class, etc) is redefined in a different file than its original definition. It is not a good idea to set this variable to T.

Chapter 6. Iteration [CLHS-6]

No notes.

Chapter 7. Objects [CLHS-7]

7.1. Standard Method Combination [CLHS-7.6.6.2]

Generic function CLOS:NO-PRIMARY-METHOD (similar to NO-APPLICABLE-METHOD) is called when there is an applicable method but no applicable primary method.

The default methods for CLOS:NO-PRIMARY-METHOD, NO-APPLICABLE-METHOD and NO-NEXT-METHOD SIGNAL an ERROR of type CLOS:METHOD-CALL-ERROR . You can find out more information about the error using functions CLOS:METHOD-CALL-ERROR-GENERIC-FUNCTION, CLOS:METHOD-CALL-ERROR-ARGUMENT-LIST, and (only for NO-NEXT-METHOD) CLOS:METHOD-CALL-ERROR-METHOD. Moreover, when the generic function has only one dispatching argument, (i.e., such an argument that not all the corresponding parameter specializers are T), an ERROR of type CLOS:METHOD-CALL-TYPE-ERROR is SIGNALed, additinally making TYPE-ERROR-DATUM and TYPE-ERROR-EXPECTED-TYPE available.

7.2. The Objects Dictionary [CLHS-7.7]

7.2.1. Generic function CLOS:CLASS-PROTOTYPE.

The [Metaobject Protocol] generic function CLOS:CLASS-PROTOTYPE is implemented. This allows non-consing access to slots with allocation :CLASS:

  (defclass counter ()
    ((count :allocation :class :initform 0 :reader how-many)))
  (defmethod initialize-instance :after ((obj counter) &rest args)
    (incf (slot-value obj 'count)))
  (defclass counted-object (counter) ((name :initarg :name)))
 

Now you can find out how many COUNTED-OBJECTs have been created by using (HOW-MANY (CLOS:CLASS-PROTOTYPE 'COUNTER)):

  (make-instance 'counted-object :name 'foo)
    #<COUNTED-OBJECT #x203028C9>
  (how-many (clos:class-prototype 'counter))
    1
  (make-instance 'counted-object :name 'bar)
    #<COUNTED-OBJECT #x20306CB1>
  (how-many (clos:class-prototype 'counter))
    2

Chapter 8. Structures [CLHS-8]

The :PRINT-FUNCTION option should contain a lambda expression (LAMBDA (object stream depth) (declare (ignore depth)) ...) This lambda expression names a FUNCTION whose task is to output the external representation of the STRUCTURE-OBJECT object onto the STREAM stream. This may be done by outputting text onto the stream using WRITE-CHAR, WRITE-STRING, WRITE, PRIN1, PRINC, PRINT, PPRINT, FORMAT and the like. The following rules must be obeyed:

The :INHERIT option is exactly like :INCLUDE except that it does not create new accessors for the inherited slots (this is a CLISP extension).

Chapter 9. Conditions [CLHS-9]

When an error occurred, you are in a break loop. You can evaluate forms as usual. The help command (or help key if there is one) lists the available debugging commands.

Macro EXT:MUFFLE-CERRORSThe macro (EXT:MUFFLE-CERRORS {form}*) executes the forms. When a continuable error occurs, no message is printed, instead, the CONTINUE RESTART is invoked.

Macro EXT:APPEASE-CERRORSThe macro (EXT:APPEASE-CERRORS {form}*) executes the forms. Continuable errors are reported as warnings and the CONTINUE RESTART is invoked.

Macro EXT:EXIT-ON-ERRORThe macro (EXT:EXIT-ON-ERROR {form}*) executes the forms. When a non-continuable error or a Control-C interrupt occurs, the error message is printed and CLISP terminates with an error status.

Macro EXT:WITH-RESTARTSThe macro EXT:WITH-RESTARTS is like RESTART-CASE, except that the forms are specified after the restart clauses instead of before them, and the restarts created are not implicitly associated with any CONDITION. (EXT:WITH-RESTARTS ({restart-clause}*) {form}*) is therefore equivalent to (RESTART-CASE (PROGN {form}*) {restart-clause}*).

9.1. Embedded Newlines in Condition Reports [CLHS-9.1.3.1.3]

The error message prefix for the first line is "*** - ". There is no prefix for subsequent error lines. The aesthetics of CONDITION reports containing an object which requires newlines when pretty printing is enabled, is undefined.

9.2. The Conditions Dictionary [CLHS-9.2]

Macro RESTART-CASEIn (RESTART-CASE form {restart-clause}*), the argument list can also be specified after the keyword/value pairs instead of before them, i.e., each restart-clause can be either (restart-name arglist {keyword-value-pair}* {form}*) or (restart-name {keyword-value-pair}* arglist {form}*).

Function COMPUTE-RESTARTSCOMPUTE-RESTARTS and FIND-RESTART behave as specified in [ANSI CL standard]: If the optional condition argument is non-NIL, only restarts associated with that condition and restarts associated with no condition at all are considered. Therefore the effect of associating a restart to a condition is not to activate it, but to hide it from other conditions. This makes the syntax-dependent implicit association performed by RESTART-CASE nearly obsolete.

Chapter 10. Symbols [CLHS-10]

No notes.

Chapter 11. Packages [CLHS-11]

The [ANSI CL standard] packages present in CLISP

COMMON-LISP
with the nicknames CL and LISP
COMMON-LISP-USER
with the nicknames CL-USER and USER
KEYWORD
with the nickname

The package COMMON-LISP EXPORTs only those symbols from the [ANSI CL standard] that are actually implemented.

11.1. Constraints on the COMMON-LISP Package for Conforming Programs - package locking [CLHS-11.1.2.1.2]

Function EXT:PACKAGE-LOCK Packages can be “locked”. When a package is locked, attempts to change its symbol table or redefine functions which its symbols name result in a continuable ERROR (continuing overrides locking for this operation). When CUSTOM:*SUPPRESS-CHECK-REDEFINITION* is T (not a good idea!), the ERROR is not SIGNALed for redefine operations. Function (EXT:PACKAGE-LOCK package) returns the generalized boolean indicating whether the package is locked. A package (or a list thereof) can be locked using (SETF (EXT:PACKAGE-LOCK package-or-list) T). CLISP locks its system packages (specified in the variable CUSTOM:*SYSTEM-PACKAGE-LIST*).

Macro EXT:WITHOUT-PACKAGE-LOCKIf you want to evaluate some forms with certain packages unlocked, you can use EXT:WITHOUT-PACKAGE-LOCK :

(EXT:WITHOUT-PACKAGE-LOCK ("LISP" "EXT" "CLOS")
  (defun restart () ...))

or

(EXT:WITHOUT-PACKAGE-LOCK ("LISP") (trace read-line))

(EXT:WITHOUT-PACKAGE-LOCK () ...) temporarily unlocks all packages in CUSTOM:*SYSTEM-PACKAGE-LIST*.

Discussion - see also the USENET posting by Steven M. HaflichThis should prevent you from accidentally hosing yourself with

 (DEFSTRUCT instance ...)

and allow enforcing modularity. Note that you will also get the continuable error when you try to assign (with SETQ, PSETQ, etc.) a value to an internal special variable living in a locked package and not accessible in your current *PACKAGE*, but only in the interpreted code and during compilation. There is no check for package locks in compiled code because of the performance considerations.

11.2. The COMMON-LISP-USER Package [CLHS-11.1.2.2]

The COMMON-LISP-USER package uses the COMMON-LISP and EXT packages.

11.3. Implementation-Defined Packages [CLHS-11.1.2.4]

The following additional packages exist:

Implementation-Defined Packages

CLOS
EXPORTs all CLOS-specific symbols, including some additional symbols.
SYSTEM
has the nicknames SYS and COMPILER, and has no EXPORTed symbols. It defines many system internals.
EXT
is the umbrella package for all extensions: it imports and EXT:RE-EXPORTs all the external symbols in all CLISP extensions, so a simple (USE-PACKAGE "EXT") is enough to make all the extensions available in the current package. This package uses packages (in addition to COMMON-LISP): LDAP, POSIX, SOCKET, GSTREAM, GRAY, I18N, CUSTOM.
CHARSET
defines and EXPORTs some character sets, for use with EXT:MAKE-ENCODING and as :EXTERNAL-FORMAT argument.
FFI
implements the foreign function interface. Some platforms only.
SCREEN
defines an API for random screen access. Some platforms only.

All pre-existing packages except COMMON-LISP-USER belong to the implementation, in the sense that the programs that do not follow Section 11.1.2.1.2 ("Constraints on the COMMON-LISP Package for Conforming Programs") cause undefined behavior.

11.4. The Packages Dictionary [CLHS-11.2]

11.4.1. Function MAKE-PACKAGE

For MAKE-PACKAGE, the default value of the :USE argument is (COMMON-LISP).

MAKE-PACKAGE accepts a keyword argument :CASE-SENSITIVE. Similarly, DEFPACKAGE accepts an option :CASE-SENSITIVE. When its value is non-NIL, the package will be case sensitive, i.e., the reader will not case-convert symbol names before looking them up or creating them in this package. The package names are still subject to (READTABLE-CASE *READTABLE*), though.

11.4.2. Function EXT:RE-EXPORT

The function (EXT:RE-EXPORT FROM-PACK TO-PACK) re-EXPORTs all external SYMBOLs from FROM-PACK also from TO-PACK, provided it already uses FROM-PACK; and SIGNALs an ERROR otherwise.

Chapter 12. Numbers [CLHS-12]

12.1. Numeric Types

The type NUMBER is the disjoint union of the types REAL and COMPLEX (exhaustive partition)

The type REAL is the disjoint union of the types RATIONAL and FLOAT.

The type RATIONAL is the disjoint union of the types INTEGER and RATIO.

The type INTEGER is the disjoint union of the types FIXNUM and BIGNUM.

The type FLOAT is the disjoint union of the types SHORT-FLOAT, SINGLE-FLOAT, DOUBLE-FLOAT and LONG-FLOAT.

12.2. Number Concepts [CLHS-12.1]

12.2.1. Byte Operations on Integers [CLHS-12.1.1.3.2]

Byte specifiers are objects of built-in type BYTE, not INTEGERs.

12.2.2. Rule of Float Substitutability [CLHS-12.1.3.3]

When a mathematical function may return an exact (RATIONAL) or inexact (FLOAT) result, it always returns the exact result.

12.2.3. Floating-point Computations [CLHS-12.1.4]

There are four floating point types: SHORT-FLOAT, SINGLE-FLOAT, DOUBLE-FLOAT and LONG-FLOAT:

typesignmantissaexponentcomment
SHORT-FLOAT1 bit16+1 bits8 bitsimmediate
SINGLE-FLOAT1 bit23+1 bits8 bitsIEEE 754
DOUBLE-FLOAT1 bit52+1 bits11 bitsIEEE 754
LONG-FLOAT1 bit>=64 bits32 bitsvariable length

The single and double float formats are those of the IEEE 754Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic”, except that CLISP does not support features like ±0, ±inf, NaN, gradual underflow, etc. Common Lisp does not make use of these features, so, to reduce portability problems, CLISP by design returns the same floating point results on all platforms (CLISP has a floating-point emulation built in for platforms that do not support IEEE 754). Note that

  • When you got a NaN in your program, your program is broken, so you will spend time determining where the NaN came from. It is better to SIGNAL an ERROR in this case.
  • When you got unnormalized floats in your program, your results will have a greatly reduced accuracy anyway. Since CLISP has the means to cope with this - LONG-FLOATs of variable precision - it does not need unnormalized floats.

This is why *FEATURES* does not contain the :IEEE-FLOATING-POINT keyword.

Arbitrary Precision Floats. Long floats have variable mantissa length, which is a multiple of 16 (or 32, depending on the word size of the processor). The default length used when long floats are read is given by the place (EXT:LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS). It can be set by (SETF (EXT:LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS) n), where n is a positive integer. E.g., (SETF (EXT:LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS) 3322) sets the default precision of long floats to about 1000 decimal digits.

12.2.3.1. Rule of Float Precision Contagion [CLHS-12.1.4.4]

The floating point contagion is controlled by the variable CUSTOM:*FLOATING-POINT-CONTAGION-ANSI*. When it is non-NIL, contagion is done as per the [ANSI CL standard]: SHORT-FLOATSINGLE-FLOATDOUBLE-FLOATLONG-FLOAT.

Rationale:
See it pragmatically: save what you can and let others worry about the rest.
Brief:
Common Lisp knows the number's precision, not accuracy, so preserving the precision can be accomplished reliably, while anything relating to the accuracy is just a speculation - only the user (programmer) knows what it is in each case.
Detailed:
A computer float is an approximation of a real number. One can think of it as a random variable with the mean equal to itself and standard deviation equal to half the last significant digit. E.g., 1.5 is actually 1.5±0.05. Consider adding 1.5 and 1.75. [ANSI CL standard] requires that (+ 1.5 1.75) return 3.25, while traditional CLISP would return 3.3. The implied random variables are: 3.25±0.005 and 3.3±0.05. Note that the traditional CLISP way does lie about the mean: the mean is 3.25 and nothing else, while the standard way could be lying about the deviation (accuracy): if the implied accuracy of 1.5 (0.05) is its actual accuracy, then the accuracy of the result cannot be smaller that that. Therefore, since Common Lisp has no way of knowing the actual accuracy, [ANSI CL standard] (and all the other standard engineering programming languages, like C, FORTRAN etc) decides that keeping the accuracy correct is the business of the programmer, while the language should preserve what it can - the precision.
Experience:
Rounding errors accumulate, and if a computation is conducted with insufficient precision, an outright incorrect result can be returned. (E.g., E(x2) - E(x)2 can be negative!) The user should not mix floats of different precision (that's what CUSTOM:*WARN-ON-FLOATING-POINT-CONTAGION* is for), but one should not be penalized for this too harshly.

When CUSTOM:*FLOATING-POINT-CONTAGION-ANSI* is NIL, the traditional CLISP method is used, namely the result of an arithmetic operation whose arguments are of different float types is rounded to the float format of the shortest (least precise) of the arguments: RATIONALLONG-FLOATDOUBLE-FLOATSINGLE-FLOATSHORT-FLOAT (in contrast to 12.1.4.4 Rule of Float Precision Contagion!)

Rationale:
See it mathematically. Add intervals: {1.0 ± 1e-8} + {1.0 ± 1e-16} = {2.0 ± 1e-8}. So, if we add 1.0s0 and 1.0d0, we should get 2.0s0.
Brief:
Do not suggest accuracy of a result by giving it a precision that is greater than its accuracy.
Example:
(- (+ 1.7 PI) PI) should not return 1.700000726342836417234L0, it should return 1.7f0 (or 1.700001f0 if there were rounding errors).
Experience:
If in a computation using thousands of SHORT-FLOATs, a LONG-FLOAT (like PI) happens to be used, the long precision should not propagate throughout all the intermediate values. Otherwise, the long result would look precise, but its accuracy is only that of a SHORT-FLOAT; furthermore much computation time would be lost by calculating with LONG-FLOATs when only SHORT-FLOATs would be needed.

Variable CUSTOM:*WARN-ON-FLOATING-POINT-CONTAGION*If the variable CUSTOM:*WARN-ON-FLOATING-POINT-CONTAGION* is non-NIL, a warning is emitted for every coercion involving different floating-point types. As explained above, float precision contagion is not a good idea, this is why CUSTOM:*WARN-ON-FLOATING-POINT-CONTAGION* is set to T initially. You can avoid the contagion by doing all your computations with the same floating-point type (and using FLOAT to convert all constants, e.g., PI, to your preferred type). Set it to ERROR to have CLISP SIGNAL an ERROR on float precision contagion.

12.2.4. Complex Computations [CLHS-12.1.5]

Complex numbers can have a real part and an imaginary part of different types. For example, (SQRT -9.0) evaluates to the number #C(0 3.0), which has a real part of exactly 0, not only 0.0 (which would mean "approximately 0").

The type specifier for this is (COMPLEX INTEGER SINGLE-FLOAT), and (COMPLEX type-of-real-part type-of-imaginary-part) in general.

The type specifier (COMPLEX type) is equivalent to (COMPLEX type type).

12.2.5. Rule of Canonical Representation for Complex Rationals [CLHS-12.1.5.3]

Complex numbers can have a real part and an imaginary part of different types. If the imaginary part is EQL to 0, the number is automatically converted to a real number.

This has the advantage that (let ((x (sqrt -9.0))) (* x x)) - instead of evaluating to #C(-9.0 0.0), with x = #C(0.0 3.0) - evaluates to #C(-9.0 0) = -9.0, with x = #C(0 3.0).

12.3. The Numbers Dictionary [CLHS-12.2]

Function UPGRADED-COMPLEX-PART-TYPEWhen the argument is not a recognizable subtype or REAL, UPGRADED-COMPLEX-PART-TYPE SIGNALs an ERROR, otherwise it returns REAL, since a COMPLEX number in CLISP can always have REALPART and IMAGPART of any type.

Variable CUSTOM:*DEFAULT-FLOAT-FORMAT*When rational numbers are to be converted to floats (due to FLOAT, COERCE, SQRT or a transcendental function), the result type is given by the variable CUSTOM:*DEFAULT-FLOAT-FORMAT*.

Macro EXT:WITHOUT-FLOATING-POINT-UNDERFLOWThe macro (EXT:WITHOUT-FLOATING-POINT-UNDERFLOW {form}*) executes the forms, with errors of type FLOATING-POINT-UNDERFLOW inhibited. Floating point operations will silently return zero instead of SIGNALing an ERROR of type FLOATING-POINT-UNDERFLOW.

12.3.1. Additional Integer Functions

Function EXT:! (EXT:! n) returns the factorial of n, n being a nonnegative INTEGER.

Function EXT:EXQUO(EXT:EXQUO x y) returns the integer quotient x/y of two integers x,y, and SIGNALs an ERROR when the quotient is not integer. (This is more efficient than /.)

Function EXT:XGCD(EXT:XGCD x1 ... xn) returns the values l, k1, ..., kn, where l is the greatest common divisor of the integers x1, ..., xn, and k1, ..., kn are the integer coefficients such that

 l = (GCD x1 ... xn)
   = (+ (* k1 x1) ... (* kn xn))

Function EXT:MOD-EXPT(EXT:MOD-EXPT k l m) is equivalent to (MOD (EXPT k l) m) except it is more efficient for very large arguments.

12.3.2. Floating Point

Function EXPT(EXPT base exponent) is not very precise if exponent has a large absolute value.

Function LOG(LOG number base) SIGNALs an ERROR if base = 1.

Constant PIThe value of PI is a LONG-FLOAT with the precision given by (EXT:LONG-FLOAT-DIGITS). When this precision is changed, the value of PI is automatically recomputed. Therefore PI is not a constant variable.

12.3.3. Float Decoding [CLHS]

FLOAT-RADIX always returns 2.

(FLOAT-DIGITS number digits) coerces number (a REAL number) to a floating point number with at least digits mantissa digits. The following always evaluates to T:

   (>= (FLOAT-DIGITS (FLOAT-DIGITS number digits)) digits)
 

12.3.5. Fixnum Limits [CLHS]

Table 12.2. Fixnum limits

CPU type16-bit CPU32-bit CPU64-bit CPU
MOST-POSITIVE-FIXNUM224-1 = 16777215232-1 = 4294967295
MOST-NEGATIVE-FIXNUM-224 = -16777216-232 = -4294967296

This CONDITION is never SIGNALed by CLISP.

12.3.8. Condition FLOATING-POINT-INEXACT

This CONDITION is never SIGNALed by CLISP.

Chapter 13. Characters [CLHS-13]

The characters are ordered according to a superset of the ASCII character set.

Platform dependent: only in CLISP built with the compile-time flag UNICODE.
More precisely, CLISP uses the 21-bit UNICODE 3.2 character set (ISO 10646, also known as UCS-4).
Platform dependent: UNIX (except NeXTstep), Win32 platforms only, and only in CLISP built without compile-time flag UNICODE.

More precisely, CLISP uses the ISO Latin-1 (ISO 8859-1) character set:

 #x0#x1#x2#x3#x4#x5#x6#x7#x8#x9#xA#xB#xC#xD#xE#xF
#x00********************************
#x10********************************
#x20 !"#$%&'()*+,-./
#x300123456789:;<=>?
#x40@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
#x50PQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_
#x60`abcdefghijklmno
#x70pqrstuvwxyz{|}~ 
#x80                
#x90                
#xA0 ¡¢£¤¥¦§¨©ª«¬­®¯
#xB0°±²³´µ·¸¹º»¼½¾¿
#xC0ÀÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏ
#xD0ÐÑÒÓÔÕÖרÙÚÛÜÝÞß
#xE0àáâãäåæçèéêëìíîï
#xF0ðñòóôõö÷øùúûüýþÿ

Here ** are control characters, not graphic characters. (The characters left blank here cannot be represented in this character set).

Platform dependent: NeXTstep platforms only, and only in CLISP built without compile-time flag UNICODE.

More precisely, CLISP uses the NeXTstep character set:

 #x0#x1#x2#x3#x4#x5#x6#x7#x8#x9#xA#xB#xC#xD#xE#xF
#x00********************************
#x10********************************
#x20 !"#$%&'()*+,-./
#x300123456789:;<=>?
#x40@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
#x50PQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_
#x60`abcdefghijklmno
#x70pqrstuvwxyz{|}~ 
#x80 ÀÁÂÃÄÅÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏ
#x90ÐÑÒÓÔÕÖÙÚÛÜÝÞµ×÷
#xA0©¡¢£¥ƒ§¤«
#xB0®·¦»¬¿
#xC0¹ˋ´^˜¯˘˙¨²˚¸³˝˛ˇ
#xD0±¼½¾àáâãäåçèéêë
#xE0ìÆíªîïðñŁØŒºòóôõ
#xF0öæùúûıüýłøœßþÿ  

Here ** are control characters, not graphic characters. (The characters left blank here cannot be represented in this character set).

Table 13.1. Standard characters

charactercode
#\Space#x20
#\Newline#x0A

Table 13.2. Semi-standard characters

charactercode
#\Backspace#x08
#\Tab#x09
#\Linefeed#x0A
#\Page#x0C
#\Return#x0D

#\Newline is the line terminator.

Table 13.3. Additional Named Characters

charactercode
#\Null#x00
#\Bell#x07
#\Escape#x1B

Table 13.4. Additional syntax for characters with code from #x00 to #x1F:

charactercode
#\^@#x00
#\^A#\^Z#x01#x1A
#\^[#x1B
#\^\#x1C
#\^]#x1D
#\^^#x1E
#\^_#x1F

See also Section 23.1, “characters”.

13.1. Attributes

Characters do not have the [CLtL1] font and bits attributes. For backward compatibility, there is a class SYS::INPUT-CHARACTER representing either a character with font and bits, or a keystroke. The following functions work with objects of types CHARACTER and SYS::INPUT-CHARACTER. Note that EQL or EQUAL are equivalent to EQ on objects of type SYS::INPUT-CHARACTER.

ext:char-font-limit = 16
The system uses only font 0.
ext:char-bits-limit = 16

Character bits:

(ext:char-font object)
returns the font of a CHARACTER or SYS::INPUT-CHARACTER.
(ext:char-bits object)
returns the bits of a CHARACTER or SYS::INPUT-CHARACTER.
(ext:make-char char [bits [font]])
returns a new SYS::INPUT-CHARACTER, or NIL if such a character cannot be created.
(ext:char-bit object name)
returns T if the named bit is set in object, else NIL.
(ext:set-char-bit object name newvalue)
returns a new SYS::INPUT-CHARACTER with the named bit set or unset, depending on the boolean newvalue.
Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.
The system itself uses this SYS::INPUT-CHARACTER type only to mention special keys and Control/Alternate/Shift key status on return from (READ-CHAR EXT:*KEYBOARD-INPUT*).

13.2. Character Scripts [CLHS-13.1.2.1]

The only defined character script is the type CHARACTER itself.

13.3. Character Attributes [CLHS-13.1.3]

Characters have no implementation-defined attributes. All characters are simple characters.

13.4. Graphic Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.1]

The graphic characters are those UNICODE characters which are defined by the UNICODE standard, excluding the ranges U0000U001F and U007FU009F.

13.5. Alphabetic Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.2]

The alphabetic characters are those UNICODE characters which are defined as letters by the UNICODE standard.

13.6. Case of Implementation-Defined Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.3.4]

The characters with case are those UNICODE characters c, for which the upper case mapping uc and the lower case mapping lc have the following properties:

  • uc and lc are different
  • c is one of uc and lc
  • the upper case mapping of uc and of lc is uc
  • the lower case mapping of uc and of lc is lc

The titlecase property of UNICODE characters has no equivalent in Common Lisp.

13.7. Numeric Characters [CLHS-13.1.4.4]

The numeric characters are those UNICODE characters which are defined as digits by the UNICODE standard.

13.8. Ordering of Characters [CLHS-13.1.6]

The characters are ordered according to their UNICODE code.

13.9. Treatment of Newline during Input and Output [CLHS-13.1.8]

Newlines are written according to the stream's EXT:ENCODING, see the function STREAM-EXTERNAL-FORMAT and the description of EXT:ENCODINGs, in particular, line terminators. The default behavior is as follows:

Platform dependent: Win32 platforms only.
When writing to a file, #\Newline is converted to CR/LF. (This is the usual convention on DOS.) For example, #\Return+#\Newline is written as CR/CR/LF.

When reading from a file, CR/LF is converted to #\Newline (the usual convention on DOS), and CR not followed by LF is converted to #\Newline as well (the usual conversion on MacOS, also used by some programs on Win32). If you do not want this, i.e., if you really want to distinguish LF, CR and CR/LF, you have to resort to binary input (function READ-BYTE).

Rationale. In CLISP, #\Newline is identical to #\Linefeed (which is specifically permitted by [ANSI CL standard] in section Character Names). Consider a file containing exactly this string: (CONCATENATE 'string "foo" (string #\Linefeed) "bar" (string #\Return) (string #\Linefeed)) Suppose we open it with (OPEN "foo" :EXTERNAL-FORMAT :DOS). What should READ-LINE return? Right now, it returns "foo" (the second READ-LINE returns "bar" and reaches end-of-stream). If our i/o were "faithful", READ-LINE would have returned the string (CONCATENATE 'string "foo" (string #\Linefeed) "bar"), i.e., a string with an embedded #\Newline between "foo" and "bar" (because a single #\Linefeed is not a #\Newline in the specified :EXTERNAL-FORMAT, it will not make READ-LINE return, but it is a CLISP #\Newline!) Even though the specification for READ-LINE does not explicitly forbids newlines inside the returned string, such behavior would be quite surprising, to say the least. Moreover, this line (with an embedded #\Newline) would be written as two lines (when writing to a STREAM with :EXTERNAL-FORMAT of :DOS), because the embedded #\Newline would be written as CR+LF.

13.10. Character Encodings [CLHS-13.1.9]

The integer returned by CHAR-INT is the same as the character's code.

13.11. Documentation of Implementation-Defined Scripts [CLHS-13.1.10]

See Section 29.4, “Extensions-1.4. Encodings”.

13.12. The Characters Dictionary [CLHS-13.2]

CHAR-CODE takes values from 0 (inclusive) to CHAR-CODE-LIMIT (exclusive), i.e., the implementation supports exactly CHAR-CODE-LIMIT characters.

Table 13.5. Number of characters

binaries builtwithoutUNICODE supportwithUNICODE support
CHAR-CODE-LIMIT28 = 25617 * 216 = 1114112

The types EXT:STRING-CHAR and BASE-CHAR are equivalent to CHARACTER.

The graphic characters have been described above.

The standard characters are #\Newline and the graphic characters with a code between 32 and 126 (inclusive).

The alphabetic characters are these characters:

             ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
             abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

and the international alphabetic characters from the character set:

             ÇüéâäàåçêëèïîìÄÅÉæÆôöòûùÿÖÜßáíóúñѪºãõØøÀÃÕ etc.

The functions CHAR-EQUAL CHAR-NOT-EQUAL, CHAR-LESSP, CHAR-GREATERP, CHAR-NOT-GREATERP, CHAR-NOT-LESSP ignore bits and font attributes of their arguments.

13.13. Functions on characters

Function (EXT:CHAR-WIDTH char)returns the number of screen columns occupied by char. This is 0 for non-spacing characters (such as control characters and many combining characters), 2 for double-width East Asian characters, and 1 for all other characters. See also function EXT:STRING-WIDTH.

13.14. Platform-Dependent Characters

The characters that are not graphic chars and the space character have names:

Table 13.6. Platform dependent characters: Win32 platforms.

codechar
(CODE-CHAR #x00)#\Null
(CODE-CHAR #x07)#\Bell
(CODE-CHAR #x08)#\Backspace#\Rubout
(CODE-CHAR #x09)#\Tab 
(CODE-CHAR #x0A)#\Newline#\Linefeed
(CODE-CHAR #x0B)#\Code11 
(CODE-CHAR #x0C)#\Page 
(CODE-CHAR #x0D)#\Return 
(CODE-CHAR #x1A)#\Code26 
(CODE-CHAR #x1B)#\Escape 
(CODE-CHAR #x20)#\Space 

Table 13.7. Platform dependent characters: UNIX platforms.

codechar
(CODE-CHAR #x00)#\Null#\Nul
(CODE-CHAR #x01)#\Soh 
(CODE-CHAR #x02)#\Stx 
(CODE-CHAR #x03)#\Etx 
(CODE-CHAR #x04)#\Eot 
(CODE-CHAR #x05)#\Enq 
(CODE-CHAR #x06)#\Ack 
(CODE-CHAR #x07)#\Bell#\Bel
(CODE-CHAR #x08)#\Backspace#\Bs
(CODE-CHAR #x09)#\Tab#\Ht
(CODE-CHAR #x0A)#\Newline#\Nl#\Linefeed
(CODE-CHAR #x0B)#\Vt  
(CODE-CHAR #x0C)#\Page#\Np 
(CODE-CHAR #x0D)#\Return#\Cr 
(CODE-CHAR #x0E)#\So  
(CODE-CHAR #x0F)#\Si  
(CODE-CHAR #x10)#\Dle  
(CODE-CHAR #x11)#\Dc1  
(CODE-CHAR #x12)#\Dc2  
(CODE-CHAR #x13)#\Dc3  
(CODE-CHAR #x14)#\Dc4  
(CODE-CHAR #x15)#\Nak  
(CODE-CHAR #x16)#\Syn  
(CODE-CHAR #x17)#\Etb  
(CODE-CHAR #x18)#\Can  
(CODE-CHAR #x19)#\Em  
(CODE-CHAR #x1A)#\Sub  
(CODE-CHAR #x1B)#\Escape#\Esc 
(CODE-CHAR #x1C)#\Fs  
(CODE-CHAR #x1D)#\Gs  
(CODE-CHAR #x1E)#\Rs  
(CODE-CHAR #x1F)#\Us  
(CODE-CHAR #x20)#\Space#\Sp 
(CODE-CHAR #x7F)#\Rubout#\Delete#\Del

13.15. Obsolete Constants

Table 13.8. Character bit constants (obsolete)

constantvalue
EXT:CHAR-CONTROL-BIT1
EXT:CHAR-META-BIT2
EXT:CHAR-SUPER-BIT4
EXT:CHAR-HYPER-BIT8

Chapter 14. Conses [CLHS-14]

14.1. The Conses Dictionary [CLHS-14.2]

14.1.1. Functions MAPCAR, MAPCAN, MAPLIST, MAPCON, ...

Function EXT:MAPCAPThe function EXT:MAPCAP is like MAPCAN, except that it concatenates the resulting lists with APPEND instead of NCONC:

(EXT:MAPCAP function x1 ... xn)(APPLY #'APPEND (MAPCAR function x1 ... xn))

(Actually a bit more efficient that this would have been.)

Function EXT:MAPLAPThe function EXT:MAPLAP is like MAPCON, except that it concatenates the resulting lists with APPEND instead of NCONC:

(EXT:MAPLAP function x1 ... xn)(APPLY #'APPEND (MAPLIST function x1 ... xn))

(Actually a bit more efficient that this would have been.)

Chapter 15. Arrays [CLHS-15]

Function MAKE-ARRAYMAKE-ARRAY can return specialized arrays for the ARRAY-ELEMENT-TYPEs (UNSIGNED-BYTE 2), (UNSIGNED-BYTE 4), (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8), (UNSIGNED-BYTE 16), (UNSIGNED-BYTE 32), and, of course, the required specializations NIL, BIT and CHARACTER.

15.1. Array Elements [CLHS-15.1.1]

Table 15.1. Array limits

CPU type16-bit CPU32-bit CPU64-bit CPU
ARRAY-RANK-LIMIT212 = 4096
ARRAY-DIMENSION-LIMIT224 = 16777216232 = 4294967296
ARRAY-TOTAL-SIZE-LIMIT224 = 16777216232 = 4294967296

15.2. The Arrays Dictionary [CLHS-15.2]

Function ADJUST-ARRAY for displaced arrays. An array to which another array is displaced should not be shrunk (using ADJUST-ARRAY) in such a way that the other array points into void space. This is not checked at the time ADJUST-ARRAY is called!

Chapter 16. Strings [CLHS-16]

String comparison is based on the function CHAR<=. Therefore diphthongs do not obey the usual national rules. Example: o < oe < z < ö.

16.1. The Strings Dictionary [CLHS-16.2]

16.1.1. Functions on strings

Function EXT:STRING-WIDTH(EXT:STRING-WIDTH string &KEY start end) returns the number of screen columns occupied by string. This is computed as the sum of all EXT:CHAR-WIDTHs of all of the string's characters.

Chapter 17. Sequences [CLHS-17]

17.1. The Sequences Dictionary [CLHS-17.3]

17.1.1. Additional Macros

17.1.1.1. Macro EXT:DOSEQ

For iteration through a sequence, a macro EXT:DOSEQ, similar to DOLIST, may be used instead of MAP:

(EXT:DOSEQ (variable seqform [resultform])
  {declaration}*
  {tag|form}*)

EXT:DOSEQ forms are iteration forms.

17.1.2. Functions NREVERSE & NRECONC

Function NREVERSEThe result of NREVERSE is always EQ to the argument. NREVERSE on a VECTOR swaps pairs of elements. NREVERSE on a LIST swaps the first and the last element and reverses the list chaining between them.

Function NRECONCThe result of NRECONC is EQ to the first argument unless it is NIL, in which case the result is EQ to the second argument.

17.1.3. Functions REMOVE & DELETE

REMOVE, REMOVE-IF, REMOVE-IF-NOT, REMOVE-DUPLICATES return their argument unchanged, if no element has to be removed.

DELETE, DELETE-IF, DELETE-IF-NOT, DELETE-DUPLICATES destructively modify their argument: If the argument is a LIST, the CDR parts are modified. If the argument is a VECTOR with fill pointer, the fill pointer is lowered and the remaining elements are compacted below the new fill pointer.

Variable CUSTOM:*SEQUENCE-COUNT-ANSI*Contrary to the [ANSI CL standard] issue 283 RANGE-OF-COUNT-KEYWORD:NIL-OR-INTEGER, negative :COUNT keyword arguments are not allowed unless you set CUSTOM:*SEQUENCE-COUNT-ANSI* to a non-NIL value, in which case “using a negative integer value is functionally equivalent to using a value of zero”, as per the [ANSI CL standard] issue.

17.1.4. Functions SORT & STABLE-SORT

SORT and STABLE-SORT have two additional keywords :START and :END:

(SORT sequence predicate &KEY :KEY :START :END)
(STABLE-SORT sequence predicate &KEY :KEY :START :END)

SORT and STABLE-SORT are identical. They implement the mergesort algorithm. Worst case complexity: O(n*log(n)) comparisons, where n is the LENGTH of the subsequence bounded by the :START and :END arguments.

Chapter 18. Hash Tables [CLHS-18]

18.1. The Hash Tables Dictionary [CLHS-18.2]

18.1.1. Function MAKE-HASH-TABLE

MAKE-HASH-TABLE supports additional keywords :INITIAL-CONTENTS and :WEAK:

(MAKE-HASH-TABLE &KEY :test :initial-contents :size
                 :rehash-size :rehash-threshold :weak)

The :INITIAL-CONTENTS argument is an alist that is used to initialize the new hash table. The :REHASH-THRESHOLD argument is ignored.

The :WEAK can take the following values:

NIL (default)
:KEY
:VALUE
:EITHER
:BOTH

and specifies whether the HASH-TABLE is weak: if the key, value, either or both are not accessible for the garbage-collection purposes, i.e., if they are only accessible via weak HASH-TABLEs and EXT:WEAK-POINTERs, it is garbage-collected and removed from the weak HASH-TABLE.

The SETFable predicate EXT:HASH-TABLE-WEAK-P checks whether the HASH-TABLE is weak.

Just like EXT:WEAK-POINTERs, weak HASH-TABLEs cannot be printed readably.

You can define a new hash table test using the macro EXT:DEFINE-HASH-TABLE-TEST: (EXT:DEFINE-HASH-TABLE-TEST test-name test-function hash-function), after which test-name can be passed as the :TEST argument to MAKE-HASH-TABLE. E.g.:

 (EXT:DEFINE-HASH-TABLE-TEST string STRING= SXHASH)
 (MAKE-HASH-TABLE :test 'string)

(which is not too useful because it is equivalent to an EQUAL HASH-TABLE but less efficient).

The fundamental requirement is that the test-function and hash-function are consistent:

  (FUNCALL test-function x y) ⇒
  (= (FUNCALL hash-function x) (FUNCALL hash-function y))
 

This means that the following definition:

  (EXT:DEFINE-HASH-TABLE-TEST number = SXHASH) ; BAD!
 

is not correct because (= 1 1d0) is T but (= (SXHASH 1) (SXHASH 1d0)) is NIL. The correct way is, e.g.:

  (EXT:DEFINE-HASH-TABLE-TEST number = (LAMBDA (x) (SXHASH (COERCE x 'SHORT-FLOAT))))
 

(note that (COERCE x SHORT-FLOAT) does not cons up fresh objects while (COERCE x DOUBLE-FLOAT) does).

18.1.3. Function HASH-TABLE-TEST

Function HASH-TABLE-TEST returns either one of the four standard symbols EQ, EQL, EQUAL, EQUALP, or, for HASH-TABLEs created with a user-defined HASH-TABLE-TEST (see macro EXT:DEFINE-HASH-TABLE-TEST), a CONS cell (test-function . hash-function).

18.1.4. Macro EXT:DOHASH

For iteration through a HASH-TABLE, a macro EXT:DOHASH, similar to DOLIST, can be used instead of MAPHASH:

(EXT:DOHASH (key-var value-var hash-table-form [resultform])
  {declaration}*
  {tag|form}*)

EXT:DOHASH forms are iteration forms.

Chapter 19. Filenames [CLHS-19]

For most operations, pathnames denoting files and pathnames denoting directories cannot be used interchangeably.

Platform dependent: UNIX platforms only.
For example, #P"foo/bar" denotes the file #P"bar" in the directory #P"foo", while #P"foo/bar/" denotes the subdirectory #P"bar" of the directory #P"foo".
Platform dependent: Win32 platforms only.
For example, #P"foo\\bar" denotes the file #P"bar" in the directory #P"foo", while #P"foo\\bar\\" denotes the subdirectory #P"bar" of the directory #P"foo".
Platform dependent: Win32 and Cygwin platforms only.
User variable CUSTOM:*DEVICE-PREFIX* controls translation between Cygwin pathnames (e.g., #P"/cygdrive/c/gnu/clisp/") and native Win32 pathnames (e.g., #P"C:\\gnu\\clisp\\") When it is set to NIL, no translations occur and the Cygwin port will not understand the native paths and the native Win32 port will not understand the Cygwin paths. When its value is a string, it is used by PARSE-NAMESTRING to translate into the appropriate platform-specific representation, so that on Cygwin, (PARSE-NAMESTRING "c:/gnu/clisp/") returns #P"/cygdrive/c/gnu/clisp/", while on Win32 (PARSE-NAMESTRING "/cygdrive/c/gnu/clisp/") returns #P"C:/gnu/clisp/". The initial value is "cygdrive", you should edit #P"config.lisp" to change it.

This is especially important for the directory-handling functions.

Table 19.1. The minimum filename syntax that may be used portably

pathnamemeaning
"xxx"for a file with name xxx
"xxx.yy"for a file with name xxx and type yy
".yy"for a pathname with type yy and no name or with name .yy and no type, depending on the value of CUSTOM:*PARSE-NAMESTRING-DOT-FILE*.

Hereby xxx denotes 1 to 8 characters, and yy denotes 1 to 3 characters, each of which being either an alphanumeric character or the underscore #\_. Other properties of pathname syntax vary between operating systems.

19.1. Pathname Components [CLHS-19.2.1]

When a pathname is to be fully specified (no wildcards), that means that no :WILD, :WILD-INFERIORS is allowed, no wildcard characters are allowed in the strings, and name EQ NIL may not be allowed either.

19.1.1. Directory canonicalization.

As permitted by the MAKE-PATHNAME secification, the PATHNAME directory component is canonicalized when the pathname is constructed:

  1. "" and "." are removed
  2. "..", "*", and "**" are converted to :UP, :WILD and :WILD-INFERIORS, respectively
  3. patterns foo/../ are collapsed

19.1.2. Platform-specific issues.

Platform dependent: UNIX platforms only.

Pathname components

host
always NIL
device
always NIL
directory = (startpoint . subdirs)
elementvaluesmeaning
startpoint:RELATIVE | :ABSOLUTE
subdirs() | (subdir . subdirs)
subdir:WILD-INFERIORS** or ..., all subdirectories
subdirSIMPLE-STRING, may contain wildcard characters "?" and "*" (may also be specified as :WILD) 
name
NIL or SIMPLE-STRING, may contain wildcard characters "?" and "*" (may also be specified as :WILD)
type
NIL or SIMPLE-STRING, may contain wildcard characters "?" and "*" (may also be specified as :WILD)
version
always NIL (may also be specified as :WILD or :NEWEST)

A UNIX filename is split into name and type.

External notation:"server:sub1.typ/sub2.typ/name.typ"
using defaults: "sub1.typ/sub2.typ/name.typ"
or "name.typ"
or "sub1.typ/**/sub3.typ/x*.lisp"
or similar. 
Platform dependent: Win32 platforms only.

Pathname components

host
NIL or SIMPLE-STRING, wildcard characters may occur but do not act as wildcards
device
NIL or :WILD or A|...|Z
directory = (startpoint . subdirs)
elementvaluesmeaning
startpoint:RELATIVE | :ABSOLUTE
subdirs() | (subdir . subdirs)
subdir:WILD-INFERIORS** or ..., all subdirectories
subdirSIMPLE-STRING, may contain wildcard characters "?" and "*" (may also be specified as :WILD) 
name
NIL or SIMPLE-STRING, may contain wildcard characters "?" and "*" (may also be specified as :WILD)
type
NIL or SIMPLE-STRING, may contain wildcard characters "?" and "*" (may also be specified as :WILD)
version
always NIL (may also be specified as :WILD or :NEWEST)

If host is non-NIL, device must be NIL.

A Win32 filename is split into name and type.

External notation:"A:\sub1.typ\sub2.typ\name.typ"
using defaults: "\sub1.typ\sub2.typ\name.typ"
or "name.typ"
or"*:\sub1.typ\**\sub3.typ\x*.lisp"
or similar. 

Instead of "\" one may use "/", as usual for DOS calls.

If host is non-NIL and the directory's startpoint is not :ABSOLUTE, (PARSE-NAMESTRING (NAMESTRING pathname)) will not be the same as pathname.

Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.
The wildcard characters: "*" matches any sequence of characters, "?" matches any one character.

Name/type namestring split. 

Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.

A filename is split into name and type according to the following rule:

  • if there is no "." in the filename, then the name is everything, type is NIL;
  • if there is a ".", then name is the part before and type the part after the last dot.
  • if the only "." is the first character, then the behavior depends on the value of the user variable CUSTOM:*PARSE-NAMESTRING-DOT-FILE* which can be either

    :TYPE
    NIL name, everything after the "." is the type; or
    :NAME
    NIL type, everything is the name

Due to this name/type splitting rule, there are pathnames that cannot result from PARSE-NAMESTRING. To get a pathname whose type contains a dot or whose name contains a dot and whose type is NIL, MAKE-PATHNAME must be used. Example: (MAKE-PATHNAME :NAME "foo.bar").

19.2. :UNSPECIFIC as a Component Value [CLHS-19.2.2.2.3]

The symbol :UNSPECIFIC is not permitted as a pathname component for any slot of any pathname. It is also illegal to pass it as an argument to MAKE-PATHNAME.

The only use for :UNSPECIFIC is that it is returned by PATHNAME-DEVICE for LOGICAL-PATHNAMEs, as required by [CLHS-19.3.2.1] Unspecific Components of a Logical Pathname.

19.3. External notation.

External notation of pathnames (cf. PARSE-NAMESTRING and NAMESTRING), of course without spaces, [,],{,}:

Platform dependent: UNIX platforms only.
[ "/" ]"/" denotes absolute pathnames
{ name"/" }each one a subdirectory
[ name ["."type] ]filename with type (extension)

Name and type may be STRINGs of any LENGTH (consisting of printing ASCII characters, except "/").

Platform dependent: Win32 platforms only.
[ [drivespec] : ]a letter "*"|a|...|z|A|...|Z
{ name [. type] \ }each one a subdirectory, "\" may be replaced by "/"
[ name [. type] ]filename with type (extension)

Name and type may be STRINGs of any LENGTH (consisting of printing ASCII characters, except "/", "\", ":").

NAMESTRING has an optional flag argument: (NAMESTRING pathname T) returns an external notation suitable for passing to the operating system or other programs.

Platform dependent: unknown platforms only.
The function USER-HOMEDIR-PATHNAME is not implemented.

19.4. Logical Pathnames [CLHS-19.3]

When the argument of the function TRANSLATE-LOGICAL-PATHNAME is a string, it is interpreted as a logical pathname string.

19.5. The Filenames Dictionary [CLHS-19.4]

Pathname Designators. When CUSTOM:*PARSE-NAMESTRING-ANSI* is NIL, SYMBOL is also treated as a pathname designator, namely its SYMBOL-NAME is converted to the operating system's preferred pathname case.

Function PATHNAMEPATHNAME always returns a physical pathname.

Function PATHNAME-MATCH-PPATHNAME-MATCH-P does not interpret missing components as wild.

19.5.1. Function TRANSLATE-PATHNAME

TRANSLATE-PATHNAME has two additional keywords: (TRANSLATE-PATHNAME source from-wildname to-wildname &KEY :ALL :MERGE)

If :ALL is specified and non-NIL, a list of all resulting pathnames, corresponding to all matches of (PATHNAME-MATCH-P source from-wildname), is returned. If :MERGE is specified and NIL, unspecified pieces of to-pathname are not replaced by corresponding pieces of source.

19.5.2. Function PARSE-NAMESTRING

(PARSE-NAMESTRING string &OPTIONAL host defaults &KEY start end junk-allowed) returns a logical pathname only if host is a logical host or host is NIL and defaults is a LOGICAL-PATHNAME. To construct a logical pathname from a string, the function LOGICAL-PATHNAME can be used.

The [ANSI CL standard] behavior of recognizing logical pathnames when the string begins with some alphanumeric characters followed by a colon (#\:) can be very confusing (cf. "c:/autoexec.bat", "home:.clisprc" and "prep:/pub/gnu") and therefore is disabled by default. To enable the [ANSI CL standard] behavior, you should set CUSTOM:*PARSE-NAMESTRING-ANSI* to non-NIL.

19.5.3. Function MERGE-PATHNAMES

(MERGE-PATHNAMES pathname [default-pathname]) returns a logical pathname only if default-pathname is a logical pathname. To construct a logical pathname from a string, the function LOGICAL-PATHNAME can be used.

When both pathname and default-pathname are relative pathnames, the behavior depends on CUSTOM:*MERGE-PATHNAMES-ANSI*: when it is NIL, then CLISP retains its traditional behavior: (MERGE-PATHNAMES #P"x/" #P"y/") evaluates to #P"x/"

Rationale. MERGE-PATHNAMES is used to specify default components for pathnames, so there is some analogy between (MERGE-PATHNAMES a b) and (OR a b). Obviously, putting in the same default a second time should do the same as putting it in once: (OR a b b) is the same as (OR a b), so (MERGE-PATHNAMES (MERGE-PATHNAMES a b) b) should be the same as (MERGE-PATHNAMES a b).

(This question actually does matter because in Common Lisp there is no distinction between “pathnames with defaults merged-in” and “pathnames with defaults not yet applied”.)

Now, (MERGE-PATHNAMES (MERGE-PATHNAMES #P"x/" #P"y/") #P"y/") and (MERGE-PATHNAMES #P"x/" #P"y/") are EQUAL in CLISP (when CUSTOM:*MERGE-PATHNAMES-ANSI* is NIL), but not in implementations that strictly follow the [ANSI CL standard] spec. In fact, the above twice-default = once-default rule holds for all pathnames in CLISP.

Reversely, when CUSTOM:*MERGE-PATHNAMES-ANSI* is non-NIL, the normal [ANSI CL standard] behavior is exhibited: (MERGE-PATHNAMES #P"x/" #P"y/") evaluates to #P"y/x/".

Rationale. merge” is merge and not or.

When the host argument to LOAD-LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS is not a defined logical host yet, we proceed as follows:

  1. If both environment variables LOGICAL_HOST_host_FROM and LOGICAL_HOST_host_TO exist, then their values define the map of the host.
  2. If the environment variable LOGICAL_HOST_host exists, its value is read from, and the result is passed to (SETF LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS).
  3. Variable CUSTOM:*LOAD-LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS-DATABASE* is consulted. Its value should be a list of files and/or directories, which are searched for in the CUSTOM:*LOAD-PATHS*, just like for LOAD. When the element is a file, it is READ from, Allegro CL-style, odd objects being host names and even object being their LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS. When the element is a directory, a file, named host or host.host, in that directory, is READ from once, CMUCL-style, the object read being the LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS of the host.

Chapter 20. Files [CLHS-20]

20.1. The Files Dictionary [CLHS-20.2]

Function RENAME-FILERENAME-FILE always returns a non-logical pathname as its first value.

Function PROBE-FILEPROBE-FILE cannot be used to check whether a directory exists. Use functions EXT:PROBE-DIRECTORY or DIRECTORY for this.

Function FILE-AUTHORFILE-AUTHOR always returns NIL, because the operating systems CLISP is ported to do not store a file's author in the file system. Some operating systems, such as Unix, have the notion of a file's owner, and some other Common Lisp implementations return the user name of the file owner. CLISP does not do this, because owner and author are not the same; in particular, authorship is preserved by copying, while ownership is not.

Function EXT:PROBE-DIRECTORY(EXT:PROBE-DIRECTORY pathname) tests whether pathname exists and is a directory. It will, unlike PROBE-FILE or TRUENAME, not SIGNAL an ERROR if the parent directory of pathname does not exist.

Function DELETE-FILE(DELETE-FILE pathname) deletes the pathname pathname, not its TRUENAME, and returns the absolute pathname it actually removed or NIL if pathname did not exist. When pathname points to a file which is currently open in CLISP, an ERROR is SIGNALed.

20.1.1. Function DIRECTORY

(DIRECTORY &OPTIONAL pathname &KEY :FULL :CIRCLE :IF-DOES-NOT-EXIST) can run in two modes:

  • If pathname contains no name or type component, a list of all matching directories is produced. E.g., (DIRECTORY "/etc/*/") lists all subdirectories in the directory #P"/etc/".
  • Otherwise a list of all matching files is returned. E.g., (DIRECTORY "/etc/*") lists all regular files in the directory #P"/etc/". If the :FULL argument is non-NIL, additional information is returned: for each matching file you get a list of at least four elements (file-pathname file-truename file-write-date-as-decoded-time file-length).

If you want all the files and subdirectories in the current directory, you should use (NCONC (DIRECTORY "*/") (DIRECTORY "*")). If you want all the files and subdirectories in all the subdirectories under the current directory (similar to the ls -R UNIX command), use (NCONC (DIRECTORY "**/") (DIRECTORY "**/*")).

Platform dependent: UNIX platforms only.
If the :CIRCLE argument is non-NIL, the function avoids endless loops that may result from symbolic links.

The argument :IF-DOES-NOT-EXIST controls the treatment of links pointing to non-existent files and can take the following values:

:DISCARD (default)
discard the bad directory entries
:ERROR
SIGNAL an ERROR on bad directory entries (this corresponds to the default behavior of DIRECTORY in CMU CL)
:KEEP
keep bad directory entries in the returned list (this roughly corresponds to the (DIRECTORY ... :TRUNAMEP NIL) call in CMU CL)
:IGNORE
Similar to :DISCARD, but also do not signal an error when a directory is unaccessible (contrary to the [ANSI CL standard] specification).

Function EXT:DIR(EXT:DIR &OPTIONAL pathname) is like DIRECTORY, but displays the pathnames instead of returning them. (EXT:DIR) shows the contents of the current directory.

Function EXT:CD(EXT:CD pathname) sets it, (EXT:CD) returns it.

Platform dependent: UNIX platforms only.
(EXT:CD [pathname]) manages the current directory.
Platform dependent: Win32 platforms only.
(EXT:CD [pathname]) manages the current device and the current directory.

Function EXT:DEFAULT-DIRECTORY(EXT:DEFAULT-DIRECTORY) is equivalent to (EXT:CD). (SETF (EXT:DEFAULT-DIRECTORY) pathname) is equivalent to (EXT:CD pathname), except for the return value.

Function EXT:MAKE-DIR(EXT:MAKE-DIR directory-pathname) creates a new subdirectory.

Function EXT:DELETE-DIR(EXT:DELETE-DIR directory-pathname) removes an (empty) subdirectory.

Chapter 21. Streams [CLHS-21]

21.1. Interactive Streams [CLHS-21.1.1.1.3]

Interactive streams are those whose next input might depend on a prompt one might output.

21.2. Terminal interaction.

GNU readline

Platform dependent: UNIX platforms only, and only in CLISP built without compile-time flag NO_READLINE (and when GNU readline is installed on your machine already).

Input through *TERMINAL-IO* uses the GNU readline library. Arrow keys can be used to move within the input history. The #\Tab key completes the SYMBOL name or PATHNAME that is being typed. See readline user manual for general details and clisp(1) for CLISP-specific extensions.

Warning

The GNU readline library is not used if standard input and standard output do not both refer to the same terminal. In some exotic cases, e.g., when running under gdb in an rxvt window under Cygwin, this may be determined incorrectly.

Macro EXT:WITH-KEYBOARD

Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.

*TERMINAL-IO* is not the only stream that communicates directly with the user: During execution of the body of a (EXT:WITH-KEYBOARD . body) form, EXT:*KEYBOARD-INPUT* is the stream that reads the keystrokes from the keyboard. It returns every keystroke in detail, as CHARACTER or SYS::INPUT-CHARACTER with the following bits:

:hyper
(Platform dependent: Win32 platforms only.) if a non-standard key. These keys are: [Win32]: Function keys, cursor keypads, numeric keypad.
slot key

the key name, for non-standard keys:

Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.
keyvalue
F1..F12:F1..:F12
Insert:Insert
Delete:Delete
Home:Home
End:End
Center:Center
PgUp:PgUp
PgDn:PgDn
Arrow keys:Left:Right:Up:Down
slot char
the ASCII code for standard keys
:super
(Platform dependent: Win32 platforms only.) if pressed together with Shift key(s) and if the keystroke would have been an other without Shift.
:control
if pressed together with the Control key.
:meta
(Platform dependent: Win32 platforms only.) if pressed together with the Alternate key.

This keyboard input is not echoed on the screen. During execution of a (EXT:WITH-KEYBOARD . body) form, no input from *TERMINAL-IO* or any synonymous stream should be requested.

See also Section 30.1, “Extensions-2.1. Random Screen Access”.

21.3. The Streams Dictionary [CLHS-21.2]

21.3.1. Function STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE

STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE is SETFable. The STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE of STREAMs created by the functions OPEN, EXT:MAKE-PIPE-INPUT-STREAM EXT:MAKE-PIPE-OUTPUT-STREAM, EXT:MAKE-PIPE-IO-STREAM, SOCKET:SOCKET-ACCEPT, SOCKET:SOCKET-CONNECT can be modified, if the old and the new STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPEs are either

Functions STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE and (SETF STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE) are GENERIC-FUNCTIONs, see Section 29.5.1, “Gray streams”.

21.3.1.1. Binary input from *STANDARD-INPUT*

Note that you cannot change STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE for some built-in streams, such as terminal streams, which is normally the value of *TERMINAL-IO*. Since *STANDARD-INPUT* normally is a SYNONYM-STREAM pointing to *TERMINAL-IO*, you cannot use READ-BYTE in the it.

Since CGI (Common Gateway Interface) provides the form data for METHOD="POST" on the stdin, and the server will not send you an end-of-stream on the end of the data, you will need to use (EXT:GETENV "CONTENT_LENGTH") to determine how much data you should read from stdin. CLISP will detect that stdin is not a terminal and create a regular FILE-STREAM which can be passed to (SETF STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE). To test this functionality interactively, you will need to open the standard input in the binary mode:

(let ((buf (MAKE-ARRAY (PARSE-INTEGER (EXT:GETENV "CONTENT_LENGTH"))
                       :element-type (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8))))
  (WITH-OPEN-STREAM (in (EXT:MAKE-STREAM :INPUT :ELEMENT-TYPE (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8)))
    (READ-SEQUENCE buf in))
  buf)

21.3.2. Function EXT:MAKE-STREAM

Function EXT:MAKE-STREAM creates a Lisp stream out of an OS file handle: (EXT:MAKE-STREAM object :DIRECTION :ELEMENT-TYPE :EXTERNAL-FORMAT :BUFFERED)

object designates an OS handle (a file descriptor), and should be one of the following:

number
denotes the file descriptor of this value
:INPUT
denotes CLISP process standard input
:OUTPUT
denotes CLISP process standard output
:ERROR
denotes CLISP process standard error
STREAM
denotes the handle of this stream, which should be a FILE-STREAM or a SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM

The handle is duplicated (with dup/dup2), so it is safe to CLOSE a STREAM returned by EXT:MAKE-STREAM.

21.3.3. Binary input, READ-BYTE, EXT:READ-INTEGER & EXT:READ-FLOAT

The function (EXT:READ-INTEGER stream element-type &OPTIONAL ENDIANNESS eof-error-p eof-value) reads a multi-byte INTEGER from stream. stream should be a stream with STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8). element-type should be type equivalent to (UNSIGNED-BYTE n), where n is a multiple of 8.

(EXT:READ-INTEGER stream element-type) is like (READ-BYTE stream) if stream's STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE were set to element-type, except that stream's FILE-POSITION will increase by n/8 instead of 1.

Together with (SETF STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE), this function permits mixed character/binary input from a stream.

The function (EXT:READ-FLOAT stream element-type &OPTIONAL ENDIANNESS eof-error-p eof-value) reads a floating-point number in IEEE 754 binary representation from stream. stream should be a STREAM with STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8). element-type should be type equivalent to SINGLE-FLOAT or DOUBLE-FLOAT.

Endianness. ENDIANNESS can be :LITTLE or :BIG. The default is :LITTLE, which corresponds to the READ-BYTE behavior in CLISP.

21.3.4. Binary output, WRITE-BYTE, EXT:WRITE-INTEGER & EXT:WRITE-FLOAT

The function (EXT:WRITE-INTEGER integer stream element-type &OPTIONAL ENDIANNESS) writes a multi-byte integer to stream. stream should be a STREAM with STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8). element-type should be type equivalent to (UNSIGNED-BYTE n), where n is a multiple of 8.

(EXT:WRITE-INTEGER integer stream element-type) is like (WRITE-BYTE integer stream) if stream's STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE were set to element-type, except that stream's FILE-POSITION will increase by n/8 instead of 1.

Together with (SETF STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE), this function permits mixed character/binary output to a STREAM.

The function (EXT:WRITE-FLOAT float stream element-type &OPTIONAL ENDIANNESS) writes a floating-point number in IEEE 754 binary representation to stream. stream should be a STREAM with STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8). element-type should be type equivalent to SINGLE-FLOAT or DOUBLE-FLOAT.

21.3.5. Bulk Input and Output

Function READ-SEQUENCEIn addition to READ-SEQUENCE, the following two functions are provided:

EXT:READ-BYTE-SEQUENCE performs multiple READ-BYTE operations:

(EXT:READ-BYTE-SEQUENCE sequence stream &KEY :START :END :NO-HANG) fills the subsequence of sequence specified by :START and :END with INTEGERs consecutively read from stream. It returns the index of the first element of sequence that was not updated (= end or < end if the stream reached its end). When :NO-HANG is non-NIL, does not block: treat input unavailability as end-of-stream.

This function is especially efficient if sequence is a (VECTOR (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8)) and stream is a file/pipe/socket STREAM with STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8).

EXT:READ-CHAR-SEQUENCE performs multiple READ-CHAR operations:

(EXT:READ-CHAR-SEQUENCE sequence stream &KEY :START :END) fills the subsequence of sequence specified by :START and :END with characters consecutively read from stream. It returns the index of the first element of sequence that was not updated (= end or < end if the stream reached its end).

This function is especially efficient if sequence is a STRING and :STREAM is a file/pipe/socket stream with STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE CHARACTER or an input STRING-STREAM.

Function WRITE-SEQUENCEIn addition to WRITE-SEQUENCE, the following two functions are provided:

EXT:WRITE-BYTE-SEQUENCE performs multiple WRITE-BYTE operations:

(EXT:WRITE-BYTE-SEQUENCE sequence stream &KEY :START :END) outputs the INTEGERs of the subsequence of sequence specified by :START and :END to :STREAM. It returns sequence.

This function is especially efficient if sequence is a (VECTOR (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8)) and stream is a file/pipe/socket STREAM with STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8).

EXT:WRITE-CHAR-SEQUENCE performs multiple WRITE-CHAR operations:

(EXT:WRITE-CHAR-SEQUENCE sequence stream &KEY :START :END :NO-HANG) outputs the characters of the subsequence of sequence specified by :START and :END to :STREAM. When :NO-HANG is non-NIL, does not block. Returns two values: sequence and the index of the first byte that was not output.

This function is especially efficient if sequence is a STRING and :STREAM is a file/pipe/socket STREAM with STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE CHARACTER.

Rationale. The rationale for EXT:READ-CHAR-SEQUENCE, EXT:READ-BYTE-SEQUENCE, EXT:WRITE-CHAR-SEQUENCE and EXT:WRITE-BYTE-SEQUENCE is that some STREAMs support both character and binary i/o, and when you read into a SEQUENCE that can hold both (e.g., LIST or SIMPLE-VECTOR) you cannot determine which kind of input to use. In such situation READ-SEQUENCE and WRITE-SEQUENCE SIGNAL an ERROR, while EXT:READ-CHAR-SEQUENCE, EXT:READ-BYTE-SEQUENCE, EXT:WRITE-CHAR-SEQUENCE and EXT:WRITE-BYTE-SEQUENCE work just fine.

21.3.6. Non-Blocking Input and Output

In addition to the standard functions LISTEN and READ-CHAR-NO-HANG, CLISP provides the following functionality facilitating non-blocking input and output, both binary and character.

(EXT:READ-CHAR-WILL-HANG-P stream)

EXT:READ-CHAR-WILL-HANG-P queries the stream's input status. It returns NIL if READ-CHAR and PEEK-CHAR with a peek-type of NIL will return immediately. Otherwise it returns T. (In the latter case the standard LISTEN function would return NIL.)

Note the difference with (NOT (LISTEN stream)): When the end-of-stream is reached, LISTEN returns NIL, whereas EXT:READ-CHAR-WILL-HANG-P returns NIL.

Note also that EXT:READ-CHAR-WILL-HANG-P is not a good way to test for end-of-stream: If EXT:READ-CHAR-WILL-HANG-P returns T, this does not mean that the stream will deliver more characters. It only means that it is not known at this moment whether the stream is already at end-of-stream, or will deliver more characters.

(EXT:READ-BYTE-LOOKAHEAD stream)
To be called only if stream's STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE is (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8) or (SIGNED-BYTE 8). Returns T if READ-BYTE would return immediately with an INTEGER result. Returns :EOF if the end-of-stream is already known to be reached. If READ-BYTE's value is not available immediately, returns NIL instead of waiting.
(EXT:READ-BYTE-WILL-HANG-P stream)
To be called only if stream's STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE is (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8) or (SIGNED-BYTE 8). Returns NIL if READ-BYTE will return immediately. Otherwise it returns true.
(EXT:READ-BYTE-NO-HANG stream &OPTIONAL eof-error-p eof-value)
To be called only if stream's STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE is (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8) or (SIGNED-BYTE 8). Returns an INTEGER or does end-of-stream handling, like READ-BYTE, if that would return immediately. If READ-BYTE's value is not available immediately, returns NIL instead of waiting.

21.3.7. Function FILE-POSITION

Platform dependent: Win32 platforms only.
FILE-POSITION works on any :BUFFERED FILE-STREAM. When a #\Newline is output to (respectively input from) a file stream, its file position is increased by 2 since #\Newline is encoded as CR/LF in the file.

21.3.8. Function OPEN

OPEN cannot handle files of size ≥ 4 GB.

OPEN accepts an additional keyword :BUFFERED.

The acceptable values for the arguments to the file/pipe/socket functions

:ELEMENT-TYPE

types equivalent to CHARACTER or (UNSIGNED-BYTE n), (SIGNED-BYTE n); if the stream is to be un:BUFFERED, n must be a multiple of 8.

If n is not a multiple of 8, CLISP will use the specified number of bits for i/o, and write the file length (as a number of n-bit bytes) in the preamble.

This is done to ensure the input/output consistency: suppose you open a file with :ELEMENT-TYPE of (UNSIGNED-BYTE 3) and write 7 bytes (i.e., 21 bit) there. The underlying OS can do input/output only in whole 8-bit bytes. Thus the OS will report the size of the file as 3 (8-bit) bytes. Without the preamble CLISP will have no way to know how many 3-bit bytes to read from this file - 6, 7 or 8.

:EXTERNAL-FORMAT
EXT:ENCODINGs, (constant) SYMBOLs in the CHARSET package, STRINGs (denoting iconv-based encodings), the symbol :DEFAULT, and the line terminator keywords :UNIX, :MAC, :DOS. The default encoding is CUSTOM:*DEFAULT-FILE-ENCODING*. This argument determines how the lisp CHARACTER data is converted to/from the 8-bit bytes that the underlying OS uses.
:BUFFERED

NIL, T, or :DEFAULT. Have CLISP manage an internal buffer for input or output (in addition to the buffering that might be used by the underlying OS). Buffering is a known general technique to significantly speed up i/o.

  • for functions that create SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAMs and pipes, :DEFAULT is equivalent to NIL; it you are transmitting a lot of data then using buffering will significantly speed up your i/o;
  • for functions that open files, :DEFAULT means that buffered file streams will be returned for regular files and (on Unix) block-devices, and unbuffered file streams for special files.

Note that some files, notably those on the /proc filesystem (on UNIX systems), are actually, despite their innocuous appearance, special files, so you might need to supply an explicit :BUFFERED NIL argument for them. Actually, CLISP detects that the file is a /proc file, so that one is covered, but there are probably more strange beasts there!

21.3.9. Function CLOSE

Function CLOSE is a GENERIC-FUNCTION, see Section 29.5.1, “Gray streams”.

CLOSE ignores its :ABORT argument.

GET-OUTPUT-STREAM-STRING returns the same value after CLOSE as it would before it.

CLOSE on an already closed STREAM does nothing and returns T.

If you do not CLOSE your STREAM explicitly, it will be closed at garbage-collection time automatically. This is not recommended though because garbage-collection is not deterministic. Please use WITH-OPEN-STREAM etc.

21.3.12. Functions EXT:MAKE-BUFFERED-INPUT-STREAM and EXT:MAKE-BUFFERED-OUTPUT-STREAM

(EXT:MAKE-BUFFERED-OUTPUT-STREAM function) returns a buffered output STREAM. function is a FUNCTION expecting one argument, a SIMPLE-STRING. WRITE-CHAR collects the CHARACTERs in a STRING, until a newline character is written or FORCE-OUTPUT/FINISH-OUTPUT is called. Then function is called with a SIMPLE-STRING as argument, that contains the characters collected so far. CLEAR-OUTPUT dicards the characters collected so far.

(EXT:MAKE-BUFFERED-INPUT-STREAM function mode) returns a buffered input STREAM. function is a FUNCTION of 0 arguments that returns either NIL (stands for end-of-stream) or up to three values string, start, end. READ-CHAR returns the CHARACTERs of the current string one after another, as delimited by start and end, which default to 0 and NIL, respectively. When the string is consumed, function is called again. The string returned by function should not be changed, otherwise function should copy the string with COPY-SEQ or SUBSEQ beforehand. mode determines the behavior of LISTEN when the current string buffer is empty:

NIL
the stream acts like a FILE-STREAM, i.e. function is called
T
the stream acts like an interactive stream without end-of-stream, i.e. one can assume that further characters will always arrive, without calling function
FUNCTION
this FUNCTION tells, upon call, if further non-empty strings are to be expected.

CLEAR-INPUT discards the rest of the current string, so function will be called upon the next READ-CHAR operation.

Chapter 22. Printer [CLHS-22]

22.1. Multiple Possible Textual Representations [CLHS-22.1.1.1]

Variable CUSTOM:*PRINT-CLOSURE*An additional variable CUSTOM:*PRINT-CLOSURE* controls whether compiled and interpreted functions (closures) are output in detailed form. If CUSTOM:*PRINT-CLOSURE* is non-NIL, compiled closures are output in #Y syntax which the reader understands. CUSTOM:*PRINT-CLOSURE* is initially set to NIL.

Variable CUSTOM:*PRINT-RPARS*An additional variable CUSTOM:*PRINT-RPARS* controls the output of the right (closing) parentheses. If CUSTOM:*PRINT-RPARS* is non-NIL, closing parentheses which do not fit onto the same line as the the corresponding opening parenthesis are output just below their corresponding opening parenthesis, in the same column. CUSTOM:*PRINT-RPARS* is initially set to NIL.

Variable CUSTOM:*PRINT-INDENT-LISTS*An additional variable CUSTOM:*PRINT-INDENT-LISTS* controls the indentation of lists that span more than one line. It specifies by how many characters items within the list will be indented relative to the beginning of the list. CUSTOM:*PRINT-INDENT-LISTS* is initially set to 1.

Variable CUSTOM:*PPRINT-FIRST-NEWLINE*An additional variable CUSTOM:*PPRINT-FIRST-NEWLINE* controls pretty-printing of multi-line objects. When CUSTOM:*PPRINT-FIRST-NEWLINE* is non-NIL, and the current line already has some characters on it, and the next object will be printed on several lines, and it does not start with a #\Newline, then a #\Newline is printed before the object. CUSTOM:*PPRINT-FIRST-NEWLINE* has no effect if *PRINT-PRETTY* is NIL. CUSTOM:*PPRINT-FIRST-NEWLINE* is initially set to T.

22.2. Printing Other Vectors [CLHS-22.1.3.7]

When *PRINT-READABLY* is true, other vectors are written as follows: if the ARRAY-ELEMENT-TYPE is T, the syntax #(x0 ... xn-1) is used. Otherwise, the syntax #A(element-type dimensions contents) is used.

22.3. Printing Other Arrays [CLHS-22.1.3.8]

When *PRINT-READABLY* is true, other arrays are written as follows: if the ARRAY-ELEMENT-TYPE is T, the syntax #rankA contents is used. Otherwise, the syntax #A(element-type dimensions contents) is used.

22.4. The Lisp Pretty Printer [CLHS-22.2]

The Lisp Pretty Printer implementation is not perfect yet. PPRINT-LOGICAL-BLOCK does not respect *PRINT-LINES*.

22.4.1. Pretty Print Dispatch Table [CLHS-22.2.1.4]

A pprint dispatch table is a CONS of a symbol *PRINT-PPRINT-DISPATCH* an alist which maps types into priorities and print functions. Their use is strongly discouraged because of the performance issues: when *PRINT-PPRINT-DISPATCH* is non-trivial and *PRINT-PRETTY* is non-NIL, printing of every object requires a lookup in the table, which entails many calls to TYPEP (which cannot be made fast enough).

22.5. The Printer Dictionary [CLHS-22.4]

Functions WRITE & WRITE-TO-STRINGThe functions WRITE and WRITE-TO-STRING have an additional keyword argument :closure which is used to bind CUSTOM:*PRINT-CLOSURE*.

22.5.1. Function FORMAT

The additional FORMAT instruction ~! is similar to ~/, but avoids putting a function name into a string, thus, even if the function is not interned in the COMMON-LISP-USER package, you might not need to specify the package explicitly. (FORMAT stream "~args!" function object) is equivalent to (FUNCALL function stream object colon-modifier-p atsign-modifier-p args).

FORMAT ~R and FORMAT ~:R can output only integers in the range |n| < 1066. The output is in English, according to the American conventions, and these conventions are identical to the British conventions only in the range |n| < 109.

FORMAT ~:@C does not output the character itself, only the instruction how to type the character.

For FORMAT ~E and FORMAT ~G, the value of *READ-DEFAULT-FLOAT-FORMAT* does not matter if *PRINT-READABLY* is true.

FORMAT ~T can determine the current column of any built-in stream.

22.5.2. pathnames

Pathnames are printed as follows: If *PRINT-ESCAPE* is NIL, only the namestring is printed; otherwise it is printed with the #P"" syntax, as per [ANSI CL standard] Issue PRINT-READABLY-BEHAVIOR:CLARIFY. But, if *PRINT-READABLY* is true, we are in trouble as #P"" is ambiguous (which is verboten when *PRINT-READABLY* is true), while being mandated by the [ANSI CL standard]. Therefore, in this case, CLISP's behavior is determined by the value of CUSTOM:*PRINT-PATHNAMES-ANSI*: when it is NIL, we print pathnames like this: #-CLISP #P"" #+CLISP #S(PATHNAME ...). Otherwise, when the variable CUSTOM:*PRINT-PATHNAMES-ANSI* is non-NIL, the #P"" notation is used as per 1.5.1.4.1 Resolution of Apparent Conflicts in Exceptional Situations.

Warning

When both *PRINT-READABLY* and CUSTOM:*PRINT-PATHNAMES-ANSI* are non-NIL and the namestring will be parsed to a dissimilar object (with the current value of CUSTOM:*PARSE-NAMESTRING-DOT-FILE*), an ERROR of type PRINT-NOT-READABLE is SIGNALed.

22.5.3. Miscellaneous Issues

*PRINT-CASE* controls the output not only of symbols, but also of characters and some #<...> objects.

In the absence of SYS::WRITE-FLOAT-DECIMAL , floating point numbers are output in radix 2. This function is defined in "floatpri.lisp" and is not available if you run CLISP without a memory image (which you should never do anyway!)

If *PRINT-READABLY* is true, *READ-DEFAULT-FLOAT-FORMAT* has no influence on the way floating point numbers are printed.

Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.
*PRINT-PRETTY* is initially NIL but set to T in #P"config.lisp". This makes screen output prettier.

*PRINT-ARRAY* is initially set to T.

Chapter 23. Reader [CLHS-23]

This is the list of objects whose external representation cannot be meaningfully read in:

Table 23.1. Unreadable objects

formatmeaning
#<type ...>all STRUCTURE-OBJECTs lacking a keyword constructor
#<ARRAY type dimensions>all ARRAYs except STRINGs, if *PRINT-ARRAY* is NIL
#<SYSTEM-FUNCTION name>built-in function written in C
#<ADD-ON-SYSTEM-FUNCTION name>other function written in C
#<SPECIAL-OPERATOR name>special operator handler
#<COMPILED-CLOSURE name>compiled function, if CUSTOM:*PRINT-CLOSURE* is NIL
#<CLOSURE name ...>interpreted function
#<FRAME-POINTER #x...>pointer to a stack frame
#<DISABLED POINTER>frame pointer which has become invalid on exit from the corresponding BLOCK or TAGBODY
#<...STREAM...>STREAM
#<PACKAGE name>PACKAGE
#<HASH-TABLE #x...>HASH-TABLE, if *PRINT-ARRAY* is NIL
#<READTABLE #x...>READTABLE
#<SYMBOL-MACRO form>SYMBOL-MACRO handler
#<MACRO function>macro expander (defined by DEFMACRO and friends)
#<FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER #x...>foreign pointer (Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.)
#<FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS #x...>foreign address (Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.)
#<FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE name #x...>foreign variable (Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.)
#<FFI:FOREIGN-FUNCTION name #x...>foreign function (Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.)
#<UNBOUND>"value" of a symbol without value, "value" of an unsupplied optional or keyword argument
#<SPECIAL REFERENCE>environment marker for variables declared SPECIAL
#<DOT>internal READ result for "."
#<END OF FILE>internal READ result, when the end of file is reached
#<READ-LABEL ...>intermediate READ result for #n#
#<ADDRESS #x...>machine address, should not occur
#<SYSTEM-POINTER #x...>should not occur

23.1. characters

#\Code allows input of characters of arbitrary code: e.g., #\Code231 reads as the character (CODE-CHAR 231.).

23.2. Additional read dispatch macros

  • #Y is used to read compiled functions and to set the current input STREAM's EXT:ENCODING.
  • #"" is used to read pathnames: #"test.lisp" is the value of (PATHNAME "test.lisp")

    Platform dependent: Win32 platforms only.
    As in all strings, backslashes must be written twice here: #"A:\\programs\\test.lisp"

23.3. Function READTABLE-CASE

When the value of (READTABLE-CASE readtable) is :INVERT, it applies to the package name and the symbol name of a symbol separately (not to the entire token at once). An alternative to the use of READTABLE-CASE is the use of the :CASE-SENSITIVE option of MAKE-PACKAGE and DEFPACKAGE.

Chapter 24. System Construction [CLHS-24]

24.1. The System Construction Dictionary [CLHS-24.2]

The compiler can be called not only by the functions COMPILE, COMPILE-FILE and DISASSEMBLE, but also by the declaration (compile).

24.1.1. Function COMPILE-FILE

(COMPILE-FILE input-file &KEY :OUTPUT-FILE :LISTING :WARNINGS :VERBOSE :PRINT :EXTERNAL-FORMAT) compiles a file to platform-independent bytecode.

Options for COMPILE-FILE

input-file
should be a pathname designator.
:OUTPUT-FILE
should be NIL or T or a pathname designator or an output STREAM. The default is T.
:LISTING
should be NIL or T or a pathname designator or an output STREAM. The default is NIL.
:WARNINGS
specifies whether warnings should also appear on the screen.
:VERBOSE
specifies whether error messages should also appear on the screen.
:PRINT
specifies whether an indication which forms are being compiled should appear on the screen.

The variables CUSTOM:*COMPILE-WARNINGS*, *COMPILE-VERBOSE*, *COMPILE-PRINT* provide defaults for the :WARNINGS, :VERBOSE, :PRINT keyword arguments, respectively, and are bound by COMPILE-FILE to the values of the arguments, i.e., these arguments are recursive.

For each input file (default file type: #P".lisp") the following files are generated:

FileWhenDefault file typeContents
output fileonly if :OUTPUT-FILE is not NIL#P".fas"can be loaded using the LOAD function
auxiliary output fileonly if :OUTPUT-FILE is not NIL#P".lib"used by COMPILE-FILE when compiling a REQUIRE form referring to the input file
listing fileonly if :LISTING is not NIL#P".lis"disassembly of the output file
C output fileonly if :OUTPUT-FILE is not NIL#P".c"foreign function interface; this file is deleted if it is empty

Warning

If you have two files in the same directory - #P"foo.lisp" and #P"foo.c", and you compile the first file with CLISP, the second file will be clobbered if you have any FFI forms in the first one!

24.1.2. Function COMPILE-FILE-PATHNAME

The default for the :OUTPUT-FILE argument is T, which means #P".fas".

24.1.3. Function REQUIRE

The function REQUIRE receives as the optional argument either a PATHNAME or a LIST of PATHNAMEs: files to be LOADed if the required module is not already present.

At compile time, (REQUIRE #P"foo") forms are treated specially: CUSTOM:*LOAD-PATHS* is searched for #P"foo.lisp" and #P"foo.lib". If the latest such file is a #P".lisp", it is compiled; otherwise the #P".lib" is loaded.

The #P".lib" is a “header” file which contains the constant, variable, inline and macro definitions necessary for compilation of the files that REQUIRE this file, but not the function definitions and calls that are not necessary for that. Thus it is not necessary to either enclose REQUIRE forms in EVAL-WHEN or to load the required files in the makefiles: if you have two files, #P"foo.lisp" and #P"bar.lisp", and the latter requires the former, you can write in your #P"Makefile":

all: foo.fas bar.fas

foo.fas: foo.lisp
	clisp -c foo

bar.fas: bar.lisp foo.fas
        clisp -c bar

instead of the more cumbersome (and slower, since #P".lib"s are usually smaller and load faster that #P".fas"s):

bar.fas: bar.lisp foo.fas
        clisp -i foo -c bar

Thus, you do not need to (LOAD #P"foo") in order to (COMPILE-FILE #P"bar.lisp"). If memory is tight, and if #P"foo.lisp" contains only a few inline functions, macros, constants or variables, this is a space and time saver. If #P"foo.lisp" does a lot of initializations or side effects when being loaded, this is important as well.

24.1.4. Function LOAD

LOAD has four additional keywords :ECHO, :COMPILING, :EXTRA-FILE-TYPES, and :OBSOLETE-ACTION.

(LOAD filename &KEY :VERBOSE :PRINT :ECHO :IF-DOES-NOT-EXIST :COMPILING :EXTRA-FILE-TYPES :OBSOLETE-ACTION)

:VERBOSE T
causes LOAD to emit a short message that a file is being loaded. The default is *LOAD-VERBOSE*, which is initially T.
:PRINT T
causes LOAD to print the value of each form. The default is *LOAD-PRINT*, which is initially NIL.
:ECHO T
causes the input from the file to be echoed to *STANDARD-OUTPUT* (normally to the screen). Should there be an error in the file, you can see at one glance where it is. The default is CUSTOM:*LOAD-ECHO*, which is initially NIL.
:COMPILING T
causes each form read to be compiled on the fly. The compiled code is executed at once and - in contrast to COMPILE-FILE - not written to a file. The default is CUSTOM:*LOAD-COMPILING*, which is initially NIL.
:EXTRA-FILE-TYPES LIST

Specifies the additional file types considered for loading, in addition to CUSTOM:*SOURCE-FILE-TYPES* (which is initially ("lisp" "lsp" "cl")) and CUSTOM:*COMPILED-FILE-TYPES* (which is initially ("fas")).

When filename does not spefify a unique file (e.g., filename is #P"foo" and both #P"foo.lisp" and #P"foo.fas" are found in the CUSTOM:*LOAD-PATHS*), then the newest file is loaded.

:OBSOLETE-ACTION NIL
Specifies the action to take when loading a #P".fas" with a different bytecode version from the one supported by this CLISP version. The possible actions are :DELETE to delete the #P".fas" and :ERROR to SIGNAL an ERROR. The default action is to WARN and look for another matching file. If no file can be loaded and :IF-DOES-NOT-EXIST is non-NIL, an ERROR is SIGNALed. The default is CUSTOM:*LOAD-OBSOLETE-ACTION*, which is initially NIL.

The variables *LOAD-VERBOSE*, *LOAD-PRINT*, CUSTOM:*LOAD-OBSOLETE-ACTION*, CUSTOM:*LOAD-COMPILING*, and CUSTOM:*LOAD-ECHO* are bound by LOAD when it receives a corresponding keyword argument (:VERBOSE, :PRINT, :OBSOLETE-ACTION, :COMPILING, and :ECHO), i.e., these arguments are recursive, just like the arguments :WARNINGS, :VERBOSE, and :PRINT for COMPILE-FILE.

Variable CUSTOM:*LOAD-PATHS*The variable CUSTOM:*LOAD-PATHS* contains a list of directories where the files are looked for - in addition to the specified or current directory - by LOAD, REQUIRE, COMPILE-FILE and LOAD-LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS.

24.1.5. Variable *FEATURES*

The variable *FEATURES* initially contains the following symbols

Default *FEATURES*

:CLISP
the name of this implementation
:ANSI-CL
CLISP purports to conform to [ANSI CL standard]
:COMMON-LISP
required by [ANSI CL standard]
:INTERPRETER
EVAL is implemented
:COMPILER
COMPILE and COMPILE-FILE are implemented
:SOCKETS
see Section 30.5, “Extensions-2.5. Socket Streams”
:GENERIC-STREAMS
see Section 29.5, “Extensions-1.5. Defining new kinds of Streams”
:LOGICAL-PATHNAMES
Logical Pathnames are implemented
:FFI
if a foreign function interface (see Section 30.3, “Extensions-2.3. The Foreign Function Call Facility”) is supported (Platform dependent: many UNIX, Win32 platforms only)
:GETTEXT
if internationalization (see Section 29.3, “Extensions-1.3. Internationalization”) using the GNU gettext package is supported (Platform dependent: most UNIX platforms only)
:UNICODE
if UNICODE (ISO 10646) characters are supported (see CHARSET)
:LOOP
LOOP is implemented
:CLOS
CLOS is implemented
:WIN32
if hardware = PC (clone) and operating system = Win32 (Windows 95/98/NT/Me/2000/XP)
:PC386
if hardware = PC (clone) with a 386/486/586/686/786 CPU
:UNIX
if operating system = Unix (in this case the hardware is irrelevant!)
:CYGWIN
if CLISP is using the Cygwin UNIX compatibility layer on top of Win32 (in that case :UNIX is also present)

Each module should add the appropriate keyword, e.g., :SYSCALLS, :DIR-KEY, :REGEXP, :PCRE, etc.

Chapter 25. Environment [CLHS-25]

25.1. Debugging Utilities [CLHS-25.1.2]

The debugger may be invoked through the functions INVOKE-DEBUGGER, BREAK, SIGNAL, ERROR, CERROR, WARN. The stepper is invoked through the macro STEP. Debugger and stepper execute subordinate read-eval-print loop (called "break loops") which are similar to the main read-eval-print loop except for the prompt and the set of available commands. Commands must be typed literally, in any case, without surrounding quotes or white space. Each command has a keyword abbreviation, indicated in the second column.

Table 25.1. Commands common to the main loop, the debugger and the stepper

commandabbreviationoperation
Help:hprints a list of available commands

Table 25.2. Commands common to the debugger and the stepper

commandabbreviationoperation
Abort:aabort to the next most recent read-eval-print loop
Unwind:uwabort to the next most recent read-eval-print loop
Quit:qquit to the top read-eval-print loop

The stack is organized into frames and other stack elements. Usually every invocation of an interpreted function and every evaluation of an interpreted form corresponds to one stack frame. Special forms such as LET, LET*, UNWIND-PROTECT and CATCH produce special kinds of stack frames.

In a break loop there is a current stack frame, which is initially the most recent stack frame but can be moved using the debugger commands Up and Down.

Evaluation of forms in a break loop occurs in the lexical environment of the current stack frame but in the dynamic environment of the debugger's caller. This means that to inspect or modify a lexical variable all you have to do is to move to the current stack frame just below the frame that corresponds to the form or the function call that binds that variable.

There is a current "stack mode" which defines in how much detail the stack is shown by the stack related debugger commands.

Table 25.3. Commands common to the debugger and the stepper

commandabbreviationoperation
Error:eprint the last error message.
Inspect:iinspect the last error message.
Mode-1:m1sets the current mode to 1: all the stack elements are considered. This mode works fine for debugging compiled functions.
Mode-2:m2sets the current mode to 2: all the frames are considered.
Mode-3:m3sets the current mode to 3: only lexical frames (frames that correspond to special forms that modify the lexical environment) are considered.
Mode-4:m4sets the current mode to 4 (the default): only EVAL and APPLY frames are considered. Every evaluation of a form in the interpreter corresponds to an EVAL frame.
Mode-5:m5sets the current mode to 5: only APPLY frames are considered. Every invocation of an interpreted function corresponds to one APPLY frame.
Where:wshows the current stack frame.
Up:ugoes up one frame, i.e., to the caller if in mode-5
Down:ddoes down one frame, i.e., to the callee if in mode-5
Top:tgoes to top frame, i.e., to the top-level form if in mode-4
Bottom:bgoes to bottom (most recent) frame, i.e., most probably to the form or function that caused the debugger to be entered.
Backtrace:btlists the stack in current mode, bottom frame first, top frame last.
Backtrace-1:bt1lists the stack in mode 1.
Backtrace-2:bt2lists the stack in mode 2.
Backtrace-3:bt3lists the stack in mode 3.
Backtrace-4:bt4lists the stack in mode 4.
Backtrace-5:bt5lists the stack in mode 5.
Frame-limit:flset the frame-limit: this many frames will be printed in a backtrace at most.
Backtrace-l:bllimit of frames to print will be prompted for.

If the current stack frame is an EVAL or APPLY frame, the following commands are available as well:

Table 25.4. Commands specific to EVAL/APPLY

commandabbreviationoperation
Break+:br+sets a breakpoint in the current frame. When the corresponding form or function will be left, the debugger will be entered again, with the variable EXT:*TRACE-VALUES* containing a list of its values.
Break-:br-removes a breakpoint from the current frame.
Redo:rdre-evaluates the corresponding form or function call. This command can be used to restart parts of a computation without aborting it entirely.
Return:rtleaves the current frame. You will be prompted for the return values.

Table 25.5. Commands specific to the debugger

commandabbreviationoperation
Continue:ccontinues evaluation of the program.

Table 25.6. Commands specific to the stepper

commandabbreviationoperation
Step:sstep into a form: evaluate this form in single step mode
Next:nstep over a form: evaluate this form at once
Over:ostep over this level: evaluate at once up to the next return
Continue:cswitch off single step mode, continue evaluation

The stepper is usually used like this: If some form returns a strange value or results in an error, call (STEP form) and navigate using the commands Step and Next until you reach the form you regard as responsible. If you are too fast (execute Next once and get the error), there is no way back; you have to restart the entire stepper session. If you are too slow (stepped into a function or a form which certainly is OK), a couple of Next commands or one Over command will help.

25.2. The Environment Dictionary [CLHS-25.2]

25.2.1. Function DISASSEMBLE

Platform dependent: UNIX platforms only.
DISASSEMBLE can disassemble to machine code, provided that GNU gdb is present. In that case the argument may be a EXT:SYSTEM-FUNCTION, a FFI:FOREIGN-FUNCTION, a special operator indicator, a symbol denoting one of these, a number, or a string.

25.2.2. Function EXT:UNCOMPILE

The function EXT:UNCOMPILE does the converse of COMPILE: (EXT:UNCOMPILE function) reverts a compiled function (name), that has been entered or loaded in the same session and then compiled, back to its interpreted form.

25.2.3. Function DOCUMENTATION

No on-line documentation is available for the system functions (yet).

Function EXT:CLHS[Common Lisp HyperSpec] access is provided via (EXT:CLHS symbol &KEY :BROWSER) function, which uses your web browser. browser (defaults to CUSTOM:*BROWSER*) should be a valid keyword in the CUSTOM:*BROWSERS* alist.

25.2.4. Macro TRACE

(TRACE function ...) makes the functions function, ... traced. function should be either a symbol or a list (symbol &KEY :suppress-if :step-if :pre :post :pre-break-if :post-break-if :pre-print :post-print :PRINT), where

:suppress-if form
no trace output as long as form is true
:step-if form
invokes the stepper as soon as form is true
:pre form
evaluates form before calling the function
:post form
evaluates form after return from the function
:pre-break-if form
goes into the break loop before calling the function if form is true
:post-break-if form
goes into the break loop after return from the function if form is true
:pre-print form
prints the values of form before calling the function
:post-print form
prints the values of form after return from the function
:PRINT form
prints the values of form both before calling and after return from the function

In all these forms you can access the following variables:

EXT:*TRACE-FUNCTION*
the function itself
EXT:*TRACE-ARGS*
the arguments to the function
EXT:*TRACE-FORM*
the function/macro call as form
EXT:*TRACE-VALUES*
after return from the function: the list of return values from the function call

and you can leave the function call with specified values by using RETURN.

TRACE and UNTRACE are also applicable to functions (SETF symbol) and to macros, but not to locally defined functions and macros.

Variable CUSTOM:*TRACE-INDENT*If you want the TRACE level to be indicated by the indentation in addition to the printed numbers, set CUSTOM:*TRACE-INDENT* to non-NIL. Initially it is NIL since many nested traced calls will easily exhaust the available line length.

25.2.5. Function INSPECT

The function INSPECT takes a keyword argument :frontend, which specifies the way CLISP will interact with the user.

Available :frontends for INSPECT in CLISP

:tty
The interaction is conducted via the *TERMINAL-IO* stream. Please use the :h command to get the list of all available commands.
:http

A window in your Web browser (specified by the :BROWSER keyword argument) is opened and it is controlled by CLISP via a SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM, using the HTTP protocol. You should be able to use all the standard browser features.

Since CLISP is not multitasking at this time, you will not be able to do anything else during an INSPECT session. Please click on the quit link to terminate the session.

Please be aware though, that once you terminate an INSPECT session, all links in all INSPECT windows in your browser will become obsolete and using them in a new INSPECT session will result in unpredictable behavior.

25.2.6. Function ROOM

The function ROOM returns two values: the number of bytes currently occupied by Lisp objects, and the number of bytes that can be allocated before the next regular garbage-collection occurs.

The function EXT:GC starts a global garbage-collection and its return value has the same meaning as the second value of ROOM.

25.2.7. Macro TIME

The timing data printed by the macro TIME includes:

the real time ("wall" time),
the run time (processor time for this process),
the number of bytes allocated, and
the number of garbage-collections performed, if any.

The macro EXT:TIMES (mnemonic: "TIME and Space") is like the macro TIME: (EXT:TIMES form) evaluates the form, and, as a side effect, outputs detailed information about the memory allocations caused by this evaluation. It also prints everything printed by TIME.

25.2.8. Function ED

The function ED calls the external editor specified by the value of (EXT:GETENV "EDITOR") or, failing that, the value of the variable CUSTOM:*EDITOR* (see #P"config.lisp"). If the argument is a function name which was defined in the current session (not loaded from a file), the program text to be edited is a pretty-printed version (without comments) of the text which was used to define the function.

25.2.9. Clock Time

Default Time Zone

Platform dependent: unknown platforms only.
The variable CUSTOM:*DEFAULT-TIME-ZONE* contains the default time zone used by ENCODE-UNIVERSAL-TIME and DECODE-UNIVERSAL-TIME. It is initially set to -1 (which means 1 hour east of Greenwich, i.e., Mid European Time).

The time zone in a decoded time must not necessarily be an INTEGER, but (as FLOAT or RATIONAL number) it should be a multiple of 1/3600.

Table 25.7. Time granularity

platformUNIXWin32  
INTERNAL-TIME-UNITS-PER-SECOND501,000,00010,000,000 

GET-INTERNAL-RUN-TIME returns the amount of run time consumed by the current CLISP process since its startup.

25.2.10. Machine

Platform dependent: UNIX platform only.
The functions SHORT-SITE-NAME, LONG-SITE-NAME should be defined in a site-specific #P"config.lisp" file. The default implementations try to read the value of the environment variable ORGANIZATION, and, failing that, call uname.
Platform dependent: Win32 platform only.
The functions SHORT-SITE-NAME, LONG-SITE-NAME should be defined in a site-specific #P"config.lisp" file. The default implementations try to read the registry.
Platform dependent: unknown platforms only.
The functions MACHINE-TYPE, MACHINE-VERSION, MACHINE-INSTANCE and SHORT-SITE-NAME, LONG-SITE-NAME should be defined by every user in his user-specific #P"config.lisp" file.

25.2.11. Functions APROPOS & APROPOS-LIST

The search performed by APROPOS and APROPOS-LIST is case-insensitive.

Variable CUSTOM:*APROPOS-DO-MORE*You can make APROPOS print more information about the symbols it found by setting CUSTOM:*APROPOS-DO-MORE* to a list containing some of :FUNCTION, :VARIABLE, :TYPE, and :CLASS or just set it to T to get all of the values.

Variable CUSTOM:*APROPOS-MATCHER*You can make APROPOS and APROPOS-LIST be more flexible in their search by setting CUSTOM:*APROPOS-MATCHER* to a FUNCTION of one argument, a pattern (a STRING), returning a new FUNCTION of one argument, a SYMBOL name (also a STRING), which returns non-NIL when the symbol name matches the pattern for the purposes of APROPOS. When CUSTOM:*APROPOS-MATCHER* is NIL, SEARCH is used. Some modules come with functions which can be used for CUSTOM:*APROPOS-MATCHER*, e.g., REGEXP:REGEXP-MATCHER, WILDCARD:WILDCARD-MATCHER, PCRE:PCRE-MATCHER.

25.2.12. Function DRIBBLE

If DRIBBLE is called with an argument, and dribbling is already enabled, a warning is printed, and the new dribbling request is ignored.

Dribbling is implemented via a kind (but not recognizable subtype) of TWO-WAY-STREAM, named EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM. If you have a source bidirectional STREAM x and you want all transactions (input and output) on x to be copied to the target output STREAM y, you can do

  (DEFVAR *loggable* x)
  (SETQ x (MAKE-SYNONYM-STREAM '*loggable*))
  (DEFUN toggle-logging (&OPTIONAL s)
    (MULTIPLE-VALUE-BIND (so ta) (dribble-toggle *loggable* s)
      (WHEN (STREAMP so) (SETQ *loggable* so))
      ta))
  (toggle-logging y)     ; start logging
  ...
  (toggle-logging)       ; finish logging
  ...
  (toggle-logging y)     ; restart logging
  ...
  (toggle-logging)       ; finish logging
  (CLOSE y)
 
(EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM stream)
When stream is a EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM, returns two values: the source and the target streams. Otherwise returns NIL.
(EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM-P stream)
When stream is a EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM, returns T, otherwise returns NIL.
(EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM-SOURCE stream)
When stream is a EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM, returns its source stream, otherwise signals a TYPE-ERROR.
(EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM-TARGET stream)
When stream is a EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM, returns its target stream, otherwise signals a TYPE-ERROR.
(EXT:MAKE-DRIBBLE-STREAM source target)
Create a new EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM.
(EXT:DRIBBLE-TOGGLE stream &OPTIONAL pathname)
When stream is a EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM and pathname is NIL, writes a dribble termination note to the stream's target STREAM and returns stream's source and target STREAMs; when stream is not a EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM and pathname is non-NIL, creates a new EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM, dribbling from stream to pathname, writes a dribble initialization note to pathname, and return the EXT:DRIBBLE-STREAM (the second value is the target STREAM); otherwise WARN that no appropriate action may be taken. pathname may be an open output STREAM or a pathname designator. See above for the sample usage. See also #P"src/dribble.lisp" in the CLISP source tree.

25.2.13. Function LISP-IMPLEMENTATION-VERSION

LISP-IMPLEMENTATION-VERSION returns the numeric version (like 3.14), and the release date (like "1999-07-21"). When running on the same machine on which CLISP was built, it appends the binary build and memory image dump date in universal time (like 3141592654). When running on a different machine, it appends the MACHINE-INSTANCE of the machine on which it was built.

25.2.14. Function EXT:ARGV

This function will return a fresh SIMPLE-VECTOR of STRING command line arguments passed to the runtime, including those already processed by CLISP. Use EXT:*ARGS* instead of this function to get the arguments for your program.

Chapter 26. Glossary [CLHS-26]

No notes.

Chapter 27. Appendix [CLHS-a]

No notes.

Chapter 28. X3J13 Issue Index [CLHS-ic]

This is the list of ANSI CL issues and their current status in CLISP, i.e., whether CLISP supports code that makes use of the functionality specified by the vote.

X3J13 Issues

&ENVIRONMENT-BINDING-ORDER:FIRST
yes
ACCESS-ERROR-NAME
yes
ADJUST-ARRAY-DISPLACEMENT
yes
ADJUST-ARRAY-FILL-POINTER
yes
ADJUST-ARRAY-NOT-ADJUSTABLE:IMPLICIT-COPY
yes
ALLOCATE-INSTANCE:ADD
yes
ALLOW-LOCAL-INLINE:INLINE-NOTINLINE
yes
ALLOW-OTHER-KEYS-NIL:PERMIT
yes
AREF-1D
yes
ARGUMENT-MISMATCH-ERROR-AGAIN:CONSISTENT
yes
ARGUMENT-MISMATCH-ERROR-MOON:FIX
yes
ARGUMENT-MISMATCH-ERROR:MORE-CLARIFICATIONS
yes, except for argument list checking in CALL-NEXT-METHOD in compiled code (items 11,12)
ARGUMENTS-UNDERSPECIFIED:SPECIFY
yes
ARRAY-DIMENSION-LIMIT-IMPLICATIONS:ALL-FIXNUM
no
ARRAY-TYPE-ELEMENT-TYPE-SEMANTICS:UNIFY-UPGRADING
yes
ASSERT-ERROR-TYPE:ERROR
yes
ASSOC-RASSOC-IF-KEY
yes
ASSOC-RASSOC-IF-KEY:YES
yes
BOA-AUX-INITIALIZATION:ERROR-ON-READ
yes
BREAK-ON-WARNINGS-OBSOLETE:REMOVE
yes
BROADCAST-STREAM-RETURN-VALUES:CLARIFY-MINIMALLY
no
BUTLAST-NEGATIVE:SHOULD-SIGNAL
yes
CHANGE-CLASS-INITARGS:PERMIT
yes
CHAR-NAME-CASE:X3J13-MAR-91
yes
CHARACTER-LOOSE-ENDS:FIX
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-1-1
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-1-2
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-2-1
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-3-1
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-3-2
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-3-3
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-3-4
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-3-5
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-3-6
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-4-1
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-4-2
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-4-3
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-5-2
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-5-6
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-5-7
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-6-1
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-6-2
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-6-3
yes
CHARACTER-PROPOSAL:2-6-5
yes
CHARACTER-VS-CHAR:LESS-INCONSISTENT-SHORT
yes
CLASS-OBJECT-SPECIALIZER:AFFIRM
yes
CLOS-CONDITIONS-AGAIN:ALLOW-SUBSET
yes
CLOS-CONDITIONS:INTEGRATE
yes
CLOS-ERROR-CHECKING-ORDER:NO-APPLICABLE-METHOD-FIRST
yes
CLOS-MACRO-COMPILATION:MINIMAL
yes
CLOSE-CONSTRUCTED-STREAM:ARGUMENT-STREAM-ONLY
yes
CLOSED-STREAM-OPERATIONS:ALLOW-INQUIRY
yes
COERCING-SETF-NAME-TO-FUNCTION:ALL-FUNCTION-NAMES
yes
COLON-NUMBER
yes
COMMON-FEATURES:SPECIFY
yes
COMMON-TYPE:REMOVE
yes
COMPILE-ARGUMENT-PROBLEMS-AGAIN:FIX
yes
COMPILE-FILE-HANDLING-OF-TOP-LEVEL-FORMS:CLARIFY
yes
COMPILE-FILE-OUTPUT-FILE-DEFAULTS:INPUT-FILE
yes
COMPILE-FILE-PACKAGE
yes
COMPILE-FILE-PATHNAME-ARGUMENTS:MAKE-CONSISTENT
yes
COMPILE-FILE-SYMBOL-HANDLING:NEW-REQUIRE-CONSISTENCY
yes
COMPILED-FUNCTION-REQUIREMENTS:TIGHTEN
yes
COMPILER-DIAGNOSTICS:USE-HANDLER
no
COMPILER-LET-CONFUSION:ELIMINATE
yes
COMPILER-VERBOSITY:LIKE-LOAD
yes
COMPILER-WARNING-STREAM
yes
COMPLEX-ATAN-BRANCH-CUT:TWEAK
yes
COMPLEX-ATANH-BOGUS-FORMULA:TWEAK-MORE
yes
COMPLEX-RATIONAL-RESULT:EXTEND
yes
COMPUTE-APPLICABLE-METHODS:GENERIC
yes
CONCATENATE-SEQUENCE:SIGNAL-ERROR
yes
CONDITION-ACCESSORS-SETFABLE:NO
yes
CONDITION-RESTARTS:BUGGY
yes
CONDITION-RESTARTS:PERMIT-ASSOCIATION
yes
CONDITION-SLOTS:HIDDEN
yes
CONS-TYPE-SPECIFIER:ADD
yes
CONSTANT-CIRCULAR-COMPILATION:YES
yes
CONSTANT-COLLAPSING:GENERALIZE
yes
CONSTANT-COMPILABLE-TYPES:SPECIFY
yes
CONSTANT-FUNCTION-COMPILATION:NO
no
CONSTANT-MODIFICATION:DISALLOW
yes
CONSTANTP-DEFINITION:INTENTIONAL
yes
CONSTANTP-ENVIRONMENT:ADD-ARG
yes
CONTAGION-ON-NUMERICAL-COMPARISONS:TRANSITIVE
yes
COPY-SYMBOL-COPY-PLIST:COPY-LIST
yes
COPY-SYMBOL-PRINT-NAME:EQUAL
yes
DATA-IO:ADD-SUPPORT
yes
DATA-TYPES-HIERARCHY-UNDERSPECIFIED
yes
DEBUGGER-HOOK-VS-BREAK:CLARIFY
yes
DECLARATION-SCOPE:NO-HOISTING
no
DECLARE-ARRAY-TYPE-ELEMENT-REFERENCES:RESTRICTIVE
yes
DECLARE-FUNCTION-AMBIGUITY:DELETE-FTYPE-ABBREVIATION
yes
DECLARE-MACROS:FLUSH
yes
DECLARE-TYPE-FREE:LEXICAL
yes
DECLS-AND-DOC
??
DECODE-UNIVERSAL-TIME-DAYLIGHT:LIKE-ENCODE
yes
DEFCONSTANT-SPECIAL:NO
yes
DEFGENERIC-DECLARE:ALLOW-MULTIPLE
yes
DEFINE-COMPILER-MACRO:X3J13-NOV89
yes
DEFINE-CONDITION-SYNTAX:INCOMPATIBLY-MORE-LIKE-DEFCLASS+EMPHASIZE-READ-ONLY
yes
DEFINE-METHOD-COMBINATION-BEHAVIOR:CLARIFY
no
DEFINING-MACROS-NON-TOP-LEVEL:ALLOW
yes
DEFMACRO-BLOCK-SCOPE:EXCLUDES-BINDINGS
yes
DEFMACRO-LAMBDA-LIST:TIGHTEN-DESCRIPTION
yes
DEFMETHOD-DECLARATION-SCOPE:CORRESPONDS-TO-BINDINGS
yes
DEFPACKAGE:ADDITION
yes
DEFSTRUCT-CONSTRUCTOR-KEY-MIXTURE:ALLOW-KEY
yes
DEFSTRUCT-CONSTRUCTOR-OPTIONS:EXPLICIT
yes
DEFSTRUCT-CONSTRUCTOR-SLOT-VARIABLES:NOT-BOUND
yes
DEFSTRUCT-COPIER-ARGUMENT-TYPE:RESTRICT
yes
DEFSTRUCT-COPIER:ARGUMENT-TYPE
yes
DEFSTRUCT-DEFAULT-VALUE-EVALUATION:IFF-NEEDED
yes
DEFSTRUCT-INCLUDE-DEFTYPE:EXPLICITLY-UNDEFINED
yes
DEFSTRUCT-PRINT-FUNCTION-AGAIN:X3J13-MAR-93
yes
DEFSTRUCT-PRINT-FUNCTION-INHERITANCE:YES
yes
DEFSTRUCT-REDEFINITION:ERROR
yes
DEFSTRUCT-SLOTS-CONSTRAINTS-NAME:DUPLICATES-ERROR
yes
DEFSTRUCT-SLOTS-CONSTRAINTS-NUMBER
yes
DEFTYPE-DESTRUCTURING:YES
yes
DEFTYPE-KEY:ALLOW
yes
DEFVAR-DOCUMENTATION:UNEVALUATED
yes
DEFVAR-INIT-TIME:NOT-DELAYED
yes
DEFVAR-INITIALIZATION:CONSERVATIVE
yes
DEPRECATION-POSITION:LIMITED
yes
DESCRIBE-INTERACTIVE:NO
yes
DESCRIBE-UNDERSPECIFIED:DESCRIBE-OBJECT
yes
DESTRUCTIVE-OPERATIONS:SPECIFY
yes
DESTRUCTURING-BIND:NEW-MACRO
yes
DISASSEMBLE-SIDE-EFFECT:DO-NOT-INSTALL
yes
DISPLACED-ARRAY-PREDICATE:ADD
yes
DO-SYMBOLS-BLOCK-SCOPE:ENTIRE-FORM
yes
DO-SYMBOLS-DUPLICATES
yes
DOCUMENTATION-FUNCTION-BUGS:FIX
yes
DOCUMENTATION-FUNCTION-TANGLED:REQUIRE-ARGUMENT
yes
DOTIMES-IGNORE:X3J13-MAR91
yes
DOTTED-LIST-ARGUMENTS:CLARIFY
yes
DOTTED-MACRO-FORMS:ALLOW
yes
DRIBBLE-TECHNIQUE
yes
DYNAMIC-EXTENT-FUNCTION:EXTEND
yes
DYNAMIC-EXTENT:NEW-DECLARATION
yes
EQUAL-STRUCTURE:MAYBE-STATUS-QUO
yes
ERROR-TERMINOLOGY-WARNING:MIGHT
yes
EVAL-OTHER:SELF-EVALUATE
yes
EVAL-TOP-LEVEL:LOAD-LIKE-COMPILE-FILE
yes
EVAL-WHEN-NON-TOP-LEVEL:GENERALIZE-EVAL-NEW-KEYWORDS
yes
EVAL-WHEN-OBSOLETE-KEYWORDS:X3J13-MAR-1993
no
EVALHOOK-STEP-CONFUSION:FIX
yes
EVALHOOK-STEP-CONFUSION:X3J13-NOV-89
yes
EXIT-EXTENT-AND-CONDITION-SYSTEM:LIKE-DYNAMIC-BINDINGS
yes
EXIT-EXTENT:MINIMAL
yes, actually implement MEDIUM
EXPT-RATIO:P.211
yes
EXTENSIONS-POSITION:DOCUMENTATION
yes
EXTERNAL-FORMAT-FOR-EVERY-FILE-CONNECTION:MINIMUM
yes
EXTRA-RETURN-VALUES:NO
yes
FILE-OPEN-ERROR:SIGNAL-FILE-ERROR
yes
FIXNUM-NON-PORTABLE:TIGHTEN-DEFINITION
yes
FLET-DECLARATIONS
yes
FLET-DECLARATIONS:ALLOW
yes
FLET-IMPLICIT-BLOCK:YES
yes
FLOAT-UNDERFLOW:ADD-VARIABLES
yes
FLOATING-POINT-CONDITION-NAMES:X3J13-NOV-89
yes
FORMAT-ATSIGN-COLON
yes
FORMAT-COLON-UPARROW-SCOPE
yes
FORMAT-COMMA-INTERVAL
yes
FORMAT-E-EXPONENT-SIGN:FORCE-SIGN
yes
FORMAT-OP-C
yes
FORMAT-PRETTY-PRINT:YES
yes, except that ~F, ~E, ~G, ~$ also bind *PRINT-BASE* to 10 and *PRINT-RADIX* to NIL
FORMAT-STRING-ARGUMENTS:SPECIFY
yes
FUNCTION-CALL-EVALUATION-ORDER:MORE-UNSPECIFIED
yes
FUNCTION-COMPOSITION:JAN89-X3J13
yes
FUNCTION-DEFINITION:JAN89-X3J13
yes
FUNCTION-NAME:LARGE
yes
FUNCTION-TYPE
yes
FUNCTION-TYPE-ARGUMENT-TYPE-SEMANTICS:RESTRICTIVE
yes
FUNCTION-TYPE-KEY-NAME:SPECIFY-KEYWORD
yes
FUNCTION-TYPE-REST-LIST-ELEMENT:USE-ACTUAL-ARGUMENT-TYPE
yes
FUNCTION-TYPE:X3J13-MARCH-88
yes
GENERALIZE-PRETTY-PRINTER:UNIFY
no
GENERIC-FLET-POORLY-DESIGNED:DELETE
yes
GENSYM-NAME-STICKINESS:LIKE-TEFLON
yes
GENTEMP-BAD-IDEA:DEPRECATE
yes
GET-MACRO-CHARACTER-READTABLE:NIL-STANDARD
yes
GET-SETF-METHOD-ENVIRONMENT:ADD-ARG
yes
HASH-TABLE-ACCESS:X3J13-MAR-89
yes
HASH-TABLE-KEY-MODIFICATION:SPECIFY
yes
HASH-TABLE-PACKAGE-GENERATORS:ADD-WITH-WRAPPER
yes
HASH-TABLE-REHASH-SIZE-INTEGER
yes
HASH-TABLE-SIZE:INTENDED-ENTRIES
yes
HASH-TABLE-TESTS:ADD-EQUALP
yes
IEEE-ATAN-BRANCH-CUT:SPLIT
yes
IGNORE-USE-TERMINOLOGY:VALUE-ONLY
yes
IMPORT-SETF-SYMBOL-PACKAGE
yes
IN-PACKAGE-FUNCTIONALITY:MAR89-X3J13
yes
IN-SYNTAX:MINIMAL
yes
INITIALIZATION-FUNCTION-KEYWORD-CHECKING
yes
ISO-COMPATIBILITY:ADD-SUBSTRATE
yes
JUN90-TRIVIAL-ISSUES:11
yes
JUN90-TRIVIAL-ISSUES:14
yes
JUN90-TRIVIAL-ISSUES:24
yes
JUN90-TRIVIAL-ISSUES:25
yes
JUN90-TRIVIAL-ISSUES:27
yes for THE, no for APPLY (spec not clear)
JUN90-TRIVIAL-ISSUES:3
yes
JUN90-TRIVIAL-ISSUES:4
yes
JUN90-TRIVIAL-ISSUES:5
yes
JUN90-TRIVIAL-ISSUES:9
yes
KEYWORD-ARGUMENT-NAME-PACKAGE:ANY
yes
LAST-N
yes
LCM-NO-ARGUMENTS:1
yes
LEXICAL-CONSTRUCT-GLOBAL-DEFINITION:UNDEFINED
yes
LISP-PACKAGE-NAME:COMMON-LISP
yes
LISP-SYMBOL-REDEFINITION-AGAIN:MORE-FIXES
yes
LISP-SYMBOL-REDEFINITION:MAR89-X3J13
yes
LOAD-OBJECTS:MAKE-LOAD-FORM
yes
LOAD-TIME-EVAL:R**2-NEW-SPECIAL-FORM
obsolete
LOAD-TIME-EVAL:R**3-NEW-SPECIAL-FORM
yes
LOAD-TRUENAME:NEW-PATHNAME-VARIABLES
yes
LOCALLY-TOP-LEVEL:SPECIAL-FORM
yes
LOOP-AND-DISCREPANCY:NO-REITERATION
yes
LOOP-FOR-AS-ON-TYPO:FIX-TYPO
yes
LOOP-INITFORM-ENVIRONMENT:PARTIAL-INTERLEAVING-VAGUE
no
LOOP-MISCELLANEOUS-REPAIRS:FIX
yes
LOOP-NAMED-BLOCK-NIL:OVERRIDE
yes
LOOP-PRESENT-SYMBOLS-TYPO:FLUSH-WRONG-WORDS
yes
LOOP-SYNTAX-OVERHAUL:REPAIR
yes
MACRO-AS-FUNCTION:DISALLOW
yes
MACRO-DECLARATIONS:MAKE-EXPLICIT
yes
MACRO-ENVIRONMENT-EXTENT:DYNAMIC
yes
MACRO-FUNCTION-ENVIRONMENT
obsolete
MACRO-FUNCTION-ENVIRONMENT:YES
yes
MACRO-SUBFORMS-TOP-LEVEL-P:ADD-CONSTRAINTS
no
MACROEXPAND-HOOK-DEFAULT:EXPLICITLY-VAGUE
yes
MACROEXPAND-HOOK-INITIAL-VALUE:IMPLEMENTATION-DEPENDENT
yes
MACROEXPAND-RETURN-VALUE:TRUE
yes
MAKE-LOAD-FORM-CONFUSION:REWRITE
yes
MAKE-LOAD-FORM-SAVING-SLOTS:NO-INITFORMS
yes
MAKE-PACKAGE-USE-DEFAULT:IMPLEMENTATION-DEPENDENT
yes
MAP-INTO:ADD-FUNCTION
yes
MAPPING-DESTRUCTIVE-INTERACTION:EXPLICITLY-VAGUE
yes
METACLASS-OF-SYSTEM-CLASS:UNSPECIFIED
yes
METHOD-COMBINATION-ARGUMENTS:CLARIFY
no
METHOD-INITFORM:FORBID-CALL-NEXT-METHOD
no
MUFFLE-WARNING-CONDITION-ARGUMENT
yes
MULTIPLE-VALUE-SETQ-ORDER:LIKE-SETF-OF-VALUES
yes
MULTIPLE-VALUES-LIMIT-ON-VARIABLES:UNDEFINED
yes
NINTERSECTION-DESTRUCTION
yes
NINTERSECTION-DESTRUCTION:REVERT
yes
NOT-AND-NULL-RETURN-VALUE:X3J13-MAR-93
yes
NTH-VALUE:ADD
yes
OPTIMIZE-DEBUG-INFO:NEW-QUALITY
yes
PACKAGE-CLUTTER:REDUCE
yes
PACKAGE-DELETION:NEW-FUNCTION
yes
PACKAGE-FUNCTION-CONSISTENCY:MORE-PERMISSIVE
yes
PARSE-ERROR-STREAM:SPLIT-TYPES
yes
PATHNAME-COMPONENT-CASE:KEYWORD-ARGUMENT
yes
PATHNAME-COMPONENT-VALUE:SPECIFY
no
PATHNAME-HOST-PARSING:RECOGNIZE-LOGICAL-HOST-NAMES
yes when CUSTOM:*PARSE-NAMESTRING-ANSI* is non-NIL
PATHNAME-LOGICAL:ADD
yes
PATHNAME-PRINT-READ:SHARPSIGN-P
yes
PATHNAME-STREAM
yes
PATHNAME-STREAM:FILES-OR-SYNONYM
yes
PATHNAME-SUBDIRECTORY-LIST:NEW-REPRESENTATION
yes
PATHNAME-SYMBOL
yes when CUSTOM:*PARSE-NAMESTRING-ANSI* is non-NIL
PATHNAME-SYNTAX-ERROR-TIME:EXPLICITLY-VAGUE
yes
PATHNAME-UNSPECIFIC-COMPONENT:NEW-TOKEN
yes
PATHNAME-WILD:NEW-FUNCTIONS
yes
PEEK-CHAR-READ-CHAR-ECHO:FIRST-READ-CHAR
yes
PLIST-DUPLICATES:ALLOW
yes
PRETTY-PRINT-INTERFACE
yes
PRINC-READABLY:X3J13-DEC-91
yes
PRINT-CASE-BEHAVIOR:CLARIFY
yes
PRINT-CASE-PRINT-ESCAPE-INTERACTION:VERTICAL-BAR-RULE-NO-UPCASE
yes
PRINT-CIRCLE-SHARED:RESPECT-PRINT-CIRCLE
yes
PRINT-CIRCLE-STRUCTURE:USER-FUNCTIONS-WORK
yes
PRINT-READABLY-BEHAVIOR:CLARIFY
yes
PRINTER-WHITESPACE:JUST-ONE-SPACE
yes
PROCLAIM-ETC-IN-COMPILE-FILE:NEW-MACRO
yes
PUSH-EVALUATION-ORDER:FIRST-ITEM
yes
PUSH-EVALUATION-ORDER:ITEM-FIRST
yes
PUSHNEW-STORE-REQUIRED:UNSPECIFIED
yes
QUOTE-SEMANTICS:NO-COPYING
yes
RANGE-OF-COUNT-KEYWORD:NIL-OR-INTEGER
yes, when CUSTOM:*SEQUENCE-COUNT-ANSI* is non-NIL; otherwise negative :COUNT values are not allowed.
RANGE-OF-START-AND-END-PARAMETERS:INTEGER-AND-INTEGER-NIL
yes
READ-AND-WRITE-BYTES:NEW-FUNCTIONS
yes
READ-CASE-SENSITIVITY:READTABLE-KEYWORDS
yes
READ-MODIFY-WRITE-EVALUATION-ORDER:DELAYED-ACCESS-STORES
no
READ-SUPPRESS-CONFUSING:GENERALIZE
yes, except that READ-DELIMITED-LIST still constructs a LIST
READER-ERROR:NEW-TYPE
yes
REAL-NUMBER-TYPE:X3J13-MAR-89
yes
RECURSIVE-DEFTYPE:EXPLICITLY-VAGUE
yes
REDUCE-ARGUMENT-EXTRACTION
yes
REMF-DESTRUCTION-UNSPECIFIED:X3J13-MAR-89
yes
REQUIRE-PATHNAME-DEFAULTS-AGAIN:X3J13-DEC-91
yes
REQUIRE-PATHNAME-DEFAULTS-YET-AGAIN:RESTORE-ARGUMENT
yes
REQUIRE-PATHNAME-DEFAULTS:ELIMINATE
superseded by REQUIRE-PATHNAME-DEFAULTS-AGAIN:X3J13-DEC-91
REST-LIST-ALLOCATION:MAY-SHARE
yes
RESULT-LISTS-SHARED:SPECIFY
yes
RETURN-VALUES-UNSPECIFIED:SPECIFY
yes
ROOM-DEFAULT-ARGUMENT:NEW-VALUE
yes
SELF-MODIFYING-CODE:FORBID
yes
SEQUENCE-TYPE-LENGTH:MUST-MATCH
yes
SETF-APPLY-EXPANSION:IGNORE-EXPANDER
no
SETF-FIND-CLASS:ALLOW-NIL
yes
SETF-FUNCTIONS-AGAIN:MINIMAL-CHANGES
yes
SETF-GET-DEFAULT:EVALUATED-BUT-IGNORED
yes
SETF-MACRO-EXPANSION:LAST
yes
SETF-METHOD-VS-SETF-METHOD:RENAME-OLD-TERMS
yes
SETF-MULTIPLE-STORE-VARIABLES:ALLOW
yes
SETF-OF-APPLY:ONLY-AREF-AND-FRIENDS
yes
SETF-OF-VALUES:ADD
yes
SETF-SUB-METHODS:DELAYED-ACCESS-STORES
yes
SHADOW-ALREADY-PRESENT
yes
SHADOW-ALREADY-PRESENT:WORKS
yes
SHARP-COMMA-CONFUSION:REMOVE
no
SHARP-O-FOOBAR:CONSEQUENCES-UNDEFINED
yes
SHARP-STAR-DELIMITER:NORMAL-DELIMITER
yes
SHARPSIGN-PLUS-MINUS-PACKAGE:KEYWORD
yes
SLOT-MISSING-VALUES:SPECIFY
yes
SLOT-VALUE-METACLASSES:LESS-MINIMAL
yes
SPECIAL-FORM-P-MISNOMER:RENAME
yes
SPECIAL-TYPE-SHADOWING:CLARIFY
yes
STANDARD-INPUT-INITIAL-BINDING:DEFINED-CONTRACTS
yes
STANDARD-REPERTOIRE-GRATUITOUS:RENAME
yes
STEP-ENVIRONMENT:CURRENT
yes
STEP-MINIMAL:PERMIT-PROGN
yes
STREAM-ACCESS:ADD-TYPES-ACCESSORS
yes
STREAM-CAPABILITIES:INTERACTIVE-STREAM-P
yes
STRING-COERCION:MAKE-CONSISTENT
yes
STRING-OUTPUT-STREAM-BASHING:UNDEFINED
yes
STRUCTURE-READ-PRINT-SYNTAX:KEYWORDS
yes
SUBSEQ-OUT-OF-BOUNDS
yes
SUBSEQ-OUT-OF-BOUNDS:IS-AN-ERROR
yes
SUBSETTING-POSITION:NONE
yes
SUBTYPEP-ENVIRONMENT:ADD-ARG
yes
SUBTYPEP-TOO-VAGUE:CLARIFY-MORE
yes
SXHASH-DEFINITION:SIMILAR-FOR-SXHASH
yes
SYMBOL-MACROLET-DECLARE:ALLOW
yes
SYMBOL-MACROLET-SEMANTICS:SPECIAL-FORM
yes
SYMBOL-MACROLET-TYPE-DECLARATION:NO
yes
SYMBOL-MACROS-AND-PROCLAIMED-SPECIALS:SIGNALS-AN-ERROR
yes
SYMBOL-PRINT-ESCAPE-BEHAVIOR:CLARIFY
yes
SYNTACTIC-ENVIRONMENT-ACCESS:RETRACTED-MAR91
yes
TAGBODY-TAG-EXPANSION:NO
yes
TAILP-NIL:T
yes
TEST-NOT-IF-NOT:FLUSH-ALL
yes, but no warning
THE-AMBIGUITY:FOR-DECLARATION
yes
THE-VALUES:RETURN-NUMBER-RECEIVED
yes
TIME-ZONE-NON-INTEGER:ALLOW
yes
TYPE-DECLARATION-ABBREVIATION:ALLOW-ALL
no
TYPE-OF-AND-PREDEFINED-CLASSES:TYPE-OF-HANDLES-FLOATS
yes
TYPE-OF-AND-PREDEFINED-CLASSES:UNIFY-AND-EXTEND
yes, except for class METHOD-COMBINATION
TYPE-OF-UNDERCONSTRAINED:ADD-CONSTRAINTS
yes
TYPE-SPECIFIER-ABBREVIATION:X3J13-JUN90-GUESS
yes
UNDEFINED-VARIABLES-AND-FUNCTIONS:COMPROMISE
yes
UNINITIALIZED-ELEMENTS:CONSEQUENCES-UNDEFINED
yes, could add error checking
UNREAD-CHAR-AFTER-PEEK-CHAR:DONT-ALLOW
yes
UNSOLICITED-MESSAGES:NOT-TO-SYSTEM-USER-STREAMS
yes
VARIABLE-LIST-ASYMMETRY:SYMMETRIZE
yes
WITH-ADDED-METHODS:DELETE
yes
WITH-COMPILATION-UNIT:NEW-MACRO
yes
WITH-OPEN-FILE-DOES-NOT-EXIST:STREAM-IS-NIL
yes
WITH-OPEN-FILE-SETQ:EXPLICITLY-VAGUE
yes
WITH-OPEN-FILE-STREAM-EXTENT:DYNAMIC-EXTENT
yes
WITH-OUTPUT-TO-STRING-APPEND-STYLE:VECTOR-PUSH-EXTEND
yes
WITH-STANDARD-IO-SYNTAX-READTABLE:X3J13-MAR-91
yes

Extensions

Table of Contents

29. Extensions-1: Platform independent Extensions
29.1. Extensions-1.1. Saving an Image
29.2. Extensions-1.2. Quitting CLISP
29.3. Extensions-1.3. Internationalization
29.3.1. The GNU gettext
29.3.2. The Language
29.4. Extensions-1.4. Encodings
29.4.1. Introduction
29.4.2. Character Sets
29.4.3. Line Terminators
29.4.4. Function EXT:MAKE-ENCODING.
29.4.5. Function EXT:ENCODING-CHARSET.
29.4.6. Default encodings.
29.4.7. Converting between strings and byte vectors
29.5. Extensions-1.5. Defining new kinds of Streams
29.5.1. Gray streams
29.5.2. Generic streams
29.6. Extensions-1.6. Weak Pointers
29.7. Extensions-1.7. Finalization
29.8. Extensions-1.8. The Prompt
29.9. Extensions-1.9. Maximum ANSI CL compliance
29.10. Extensions-1.10. Additional Fancy Macros
29.11. Extensions-1.11. Customizing CLISP behavior.
29.12. Extensions-1.12. Code Walker
30. Extensions-2: Platform specific Extensions
30.1. Extensions-2.1. Random Screen Access
30.2. Extensions-2.2. External Modules
30.2.1. Overview
30.2.2. Function EXT:MODULE-INFO
30.2.3. Function SYS::DYNLOAD-MODULES
30.2.4. Example
30.2.5. Module tools
30.2.6. Modules included in the distribution.
30.3. Extensions-2.3. The Foreign Function Call Facility
30.3.1. Overview
30.3.2. (Foreign) C types
30.3.3. The choice of the C flavor.
30.3.4. Foreign variables
30.3.5. Operations on foreign places
30.3.6. Foreign functions
30.3.7. Argument and result passing conventions
30.3.8. Parameter Mode
30.3.9. Examples
30.4. Extensions-2.4. The Amiga Foreign Function Call Facility
30.4.1. Design issues
30.4.2. Overview
30.4.3. Foreign Libraries
30.4.4. (Foreign) C types
30.4.5. Foreign functions
30.4.6. Memory access
30.4.7. Function Definition Files
30.4.8. Hints
30.4.9. Caveats
30.4.10. Examples
30.5. Extensions-2.5. Socket Streams
30.6. Extensions-2.6. Quickstarting delivery with CLISP
30.7. Extensions-2.7. Application delivery with CLISP
30.8. Extensions-2.8. Shell, Pipes and Printing
30.8.1. Shell
30.8.2. Pipes
30.8.3. Printing
30.9. Extensions-2.9. Operating System Environment.
30.10. Extensions-2.10. Other

Chapter 29. Extensions-1: Platform independent Extensions

29.1. Extensions-1.1. Saving an Image

The function (EXT:SAVEINITMEM &OPTIONAL (filename "lispinit.mem") &KEY :QUIET :INIT-FUNCTION :LOCKED-PACKAGES :START-PACKAGE) saves the running CLISP's memory to the file filename; extension #P".mem" is recommended (when filename does not have an extension, #P".mem" extension is automatically added).

:QUIET
If this argument is not NIL, the startup banner and the good-bye message will be suppressed.
:INIT-FUNCTION

This argument specifies a function that will be executed at startup of the saved image, before entering the standard read-eval-print loop; thus, if you want to avoid the read-eval-print loop, you have to call EXT:EXIT at the end of the init function yourself.

See the manual for passing command line arguments to this function.

:LOCKED-PACKAGES
This argument specifies the packages to lock before saving the image; this is convenient for application delivery, when you do not want your users to mess up your product. This argument defaults to CUSTOM:*SYSTEM-PACKAGE-LIST*.
:START-PACKAGE
This argument specifies the starting value of *PACKAGE* in the image being saved, and defaults to the current value of *PACKAGE*.

You can use this memory image with the -M option. On UNIX systems, you may compress it with GNU gzip to save disk space.

29.2. Extensions-1.2. Quitting CLISP

The functions (EXT:EXIT [errorp]), (EXT:QUIT [errorp]) and (EXT:BYE [errorp]) - all synonymous - terminate CLISP. If errorp is non-NIL, CLISP aborts with the supplied numeric error status, i.e., the OS environment is informed that the CLISP session did not succeed.

29.3. Extensions-1.3. Internationalization

"Internationalization" means to prepare a program so that it can use multiple national languages and national cultural conventions without requiring further source code changes. Localization means providing the data - mostly textual translations - necessary for an internationalized program to work in a particular language and with particular cultural conventions.

CLISP is internationalized, and is localized for the languages English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch and Russian. CLISP also supports internationalized Lisp programs, through GNU gettext.

29.3.1. The GNU gettext

GNU gettext is a set of functions, included in CLISP or the C library, which permit looking up translations of strings through message catalogs. It is also a set of tools which makes the translation maintenance easy for the translator and the program maintainer.

The GNU gettext functions are available in CLISP in the I18N package, which is EXT:RE-EXPORTed from the EXT package.

(I18N:GETTEXT MSGID &OPTIONAL DOMAIN CATEGORY)
returns the translation of the message MSGID, in the given DOMAIN, depending on the given CATEGORY. MSGID should be an ASCII string, and is normally the English message.
(I18N:NGETTEXT MSGID msgid_plural n &OPTIONAL DOMAIN CATEGORY)
returns the plural form of the translation for of MSGID and n in the given DOMAIN, depending on the given CATEGORY. MSGID and msgid_plural should be ASCII strings, and are normally the English singular and English plural variant of the message, respectively.

29.3.1.1. Domain

The DOMAIN is a string identifier denoting the program that is requesting the translation. The pathname of the message catalog depends on the DOMAIN: usually it is located at TEXTDOMAINDIR/l/LC_MESSAGES/domain.mo, where l is the ISO 639 code of the language. The notion of DOMAIN allows several Lisp programs running in the same image to request translations independently of each other.

Function I18N:TEXTDOMAIN(I18N:TEXTDOMAIN) is a place that returns the default DOMAIN, used when no DOMAIN argument is passed to the I18N:GETTEXT and I18N:NGETTEXT functions. It is SETFable. (SETF I18N:TEXTDOMAIN) is usually used during the startup phase of a program. Note that the default DOMAIN is not saved in a memory image. The use of (SETF I18N:TEXTDOMAIN) is recommended only for programs that are so simple that they will never need more than one DOMAIN.

Function I18N:TEXTDOMAINDIR(I18N:TEXTDOMAINDIR DOMAIN) is a place that returns the base directory, called TEXTDOMAINDIR above, where the message catalogs for the given DOMAIN are assumed to be installed. It is SETFable. (SETF I18N:TEXTDOMAINDIR) is usually used during the startup phase of a program, and should be used because only the program knows where its message catalogs are installed. Note that the TEXTDOMAINDIRs are not saved in a memory image.

29.3.1.2. Category

The CATEGORY argument of the I18N:GETTEXT and I18N:NGETTEXT functions denotes which locale facet the result should depend on. The default value is :LC_MESSAGES. Other possible values are :LC_CTYPE, :LC_TIME, :LC_COLLATE, :LC_MONETARY. The use of these values is useful for users who have a character/time/collation/money handling set differently from the usual message handling. Note that when a CATEGORY argument is used, the message catalog location depends on the CATEGORY: it will be expected at TEXTDOMAINDIR/ll/category/domain.mo.

29.3.1.3. Example

A non-internationalized program simulating a restaurant dialogue might look as follows.

Example 29.1. prog.lisp

(setq n (parse-integer (first EXT:*ARGS*)))

(format t "~A~%" "'Your command, please?', asked the waiter.")

(format t "~@?~%"
          (if (= n 1) "a piece of cake" "~D pieces of cake")
          n)

After being internationalized, all strings are wrapped in I18N:GETTEXT calls, and I18N:NGETTEXT is used for plurals. Also, I18N:TEXTDOMAINDIR is assigned a value; in our case, for simplicity, the current directory.

Example 29.2. prog.lisp

(setf (textdomain) "prog")
(setf (textdomaindir "prog") "./")

(setq n (parse-integer (first EXT:*ARGS*)))

(format t "~A~%"
          (gettext "'Your command, please?', asked the waiter."))

(format t "~@?~%"
          (ngettext "a piece of cake" "~D pieces of cake" n)
          n)

For ease of reading, it is customary to define an abbreviation for the I18N:GETTEXT function. An underscore is customary.

Example 29.3. prog.lisp

(setf (textdomaindir "prog") "./")
(defun _ (msgid) (gettext msgid "prog"))

(setq n (parse-integer (first EXT:*ARGS*)))

(format t "~A~%"
          (_"'Your command, please?', asked the waiter."))

(format t "~@?~%"
          (ngettext "a piece of cake" "~D pieces of cake" n "prog")
          n)

Now the program's maintainer creates a message catalog template through the command

bash$ xgettext -o prog.pot prog.lisp

Note

xgettext version 0.11 or higher is required here.

The message catalog template looks roughly like this.

Example 29.4. prog.pot

msgid "'Your command, please?', asked the waiter."
msgstr ""

msgid "a piece of cake"
msgid_plural "%d pieces of cake"
msgstr[0] ""
msgstr[1] ""

Then a French translator creates a French message catalog

Example 29.5. prog.fr.po

msgid ""
msgstr ""
"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1\n"
"Plural-Forms: nplurals=2; plural=(n > 1);\n"

msgid "'Your command, please?', asked the waiter."
msgstr "«Votre commande, s'il vous plait», dit le garçon."

# Les gateaux allemands sont les meilleurs du monde.
msgid "a piece of cake"
msgid_plural "%d pieces of cake"
msgstr[0] "un morceau de gateau"
msgstr[1] "%d morceaux de gateau"

and sends it to the program's maintainer.

The program's maintainer compiles the catalog as follows:

bash$ mkdir -p ./fr/LC_MESSAGES
bash$ msgfmt -o ./fr/LC_MESSAGES/prog.mo prog.fr.po

When a user in a french locale then runs the program

bash$ clisp prog.lisp 2

she will get the output

    «Votre commande, s'il vous plait», dit le garçon.
    2 morceaux de gateau

29.3.2. The Language

Warning

Note that the facilities described in this section will work only for the languages for which CLISP itself is already localized.

The language CLISP uses to communicate with the user can be one of

ENGLISH
DEUTSCH (i.e., German)
FRANÇAIS (i.e., French)
ESPAÑOL (i.e., Spanish)
NEDERLANDS (i.e., Dutch)
РУССКИЙ (i.e. Russian)

This is controlled by the SYMBOL-MACRO CUSTOM:*CURRENT-LANGUAGE*, which can be set at run time as well as using -L start-up option. If you wish to change the locale directory at run time too, you can do that by setting CUSTOM:*CURRENT-LANGUAGE* to a CONS cell, whose CAR is the language (a SYMBOL, one of the above), and whose CDR is the new locale directory.

More languages can be defined through the macro I18N:DEFLANGUAGE: (I18N:DEFLANGUAGE language). For such an additional language to take effect, you must install the corresponding message catalog, or translate the messages yourself, using GNU gettext and Emacs (or XEmacs) po-mode.

This works only for strings. For arbitrary language-dependent Lisp objects, you define one through the macro I18N:DEFINTERNATIONAL: (I18N:DEFINTERNATIONAL symbol &OPTIONAL (default-language T)) and add language-dependent values through the macro I18N:DEFLOCALIZED: (I18N:DEFLOCALIZED symbol language value-form) (One such form for each language. Languages without an assigned value will be treated like the default-language.) You can then access the localized value by calling I18N:LOCALIZED: (I18N:LOCALIZED symbol &OPTIONAL language)

29.4. Extensions-1.4. Encodings

29.4.1. Introduction

An “encoding” describes the correspondence between CHARACTERs and raw bytes during input/output via STREAMs with STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE CHARACTER.

An EXT:ENCODING is an object composed of the following facets:

character set
This denotes both the set of characters that can be represented and passed through the I/O channel, and the way these characters translate into raw bytes. In this context, for example, "UTF-8" and "UCS-4" are considered different, although they can represent the same set of characters.
line terminator mode
This denotes the way newline characters are represented.

EXT:ENCODINGs are also types. As such, they represent the set of characters encodable in the character set. In this context, the way characters are translated into raw bytes is ignored, and the line terminator mode is ignored as well. TYPEP and SUBTYPEP can be used on encodings.

29.4.2. Character Sets

Platform dependent: Only in CLISP built without compile-time flag UNICODE.
Only one character set is understood: the platform's native (8-bit) character set. See Chapter 13, Characters [CLHS-13].
Platform dependent: Only in CLISP built with compile-time flag UNICODE.

The following character sets are supported, as values of the corresponding (constant) symbol in the CHARSET package:

Symbols in package CHARSET

  1. UCS-2UNICODE-16UNICODE-16-BIG-ENDIAN, the 16-bit basic multilingual plane of the UNICODE character set. Every character is represented as two bytes.
  2. UNICODE-16-LITTLE-ENDIAN
  3. UCS-4UNICODE-32UNICODE-32-BIG-ENDIAN, the 21-bit UNICODE character set. Every character is represented as four bytes.
  4. UNICODE-32-LITTLE-ENDIAN
  5. UTF-8, the 21-bit UNICODE character set. Every character is represented as one to four bytes. ASCII characters represent themselves and need one byte per character. Most Latin/Greek/Cyrillic/Hebrew characters need two bytes per character. Most other characters need three bytes per character, and the rarely used remaining characters need four bytes per character. This is therefore, in general, the most space-efficient encoding of all of Unicode.
  6. UTF-16, the 21-bit UNICODE character set. Every character in the 16-bit basic multilingual plane is represented as two bytes, and the rarely used remaining characters need four bytes per character. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  7. UTF-7, the 21-bit UNICODE character set. This is a stateful 7-bit encoding. Not all ASCII characters represent themselves. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  8. JAVA, the 21-bit UNICODE character set. ASCII characters represent themselves and need one byte per character. All other characters of the basic multilingual plane are represented by \unnnn sequences (nnnn a hexadecimal number) and need 6 bytes per character. The remaining characters are represented by \uxxxx\uyyyy and need 12 bytes per character. While this encoding is very comfortable for editing Unicode files using only ASCII-aware tools and editors, it cannot faithfully represent all UNICODE text. Only text which does not contain \u (backslash followed by lowercase Latin u) can be faithfully represented by this encoding.
  9. ASCII, the well-known US-centric 7-bit character set (American Standard Code for Information Interchange - ASCII).
  10. ISO-8859-1, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Afrikaans, Albanian, Basque, Breton, Catalan, Cornish, Danish, Dutch, English, Faeroese, Finnish, French, Frisian, Galician, German, Greenlandic, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Latin, Luxemburgish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Raeto-Romanic, Scottish, Spanish, and Swedish languages.
  11. ISO-8859-2, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Croatian, Czech, German, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Slovenian, and Sorbian languages.
  12. ISO-8859-3, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Esperanto and Maltese languages.
  13. ISO-8859-4, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Sami (Lappish) languages.
  14. ISO-8859-5, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Bulgarian, Byelorussian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian languages.
  15. ISO-8859-6, suitable for the Arabic language.
  16. ISO-8859-7, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Greek language.
  17. ISO-8859-8, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Hebrew language (without punctuation).
  18. ISO-8859-9, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Turkish language.
  19. ISO-8859-10, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Estonian, Icelandic, Inuit (Greenlandic), Latvian, Lithuanian, and Sami (Lappish) languages.
  20. ISO-8859-13, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish and Sami (Lappish) languages.
  21. ISO-8859-14, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Irish Gaelic, Manx Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, and Welsh languages.
  22. ISO-8859-15, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the ISO-8859-1 languages, with improvements for French, Finnish and the Euro.
  23. ISO-8859-16 an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Rumanian language.
  24. KOI8-R, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Russian language (very popular, especially on the internet).
  25. KOI8-U, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Ukrainian language (very popular, especially on the internet).
  26. KOI8-RU, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Russian language. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libiconv.
  27. JIS_X0201, a character set for the Japanese language.
  28. MAC-ARABIC, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  29. MAC-CENTRAL-EUROPE, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  30. MAC-CROATIAN, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  31. MAC-CYRILLIC, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  32. MAC-DINGBAT, a platform specific character set.
  33. MAC-GREEK, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  34. MAC-HEBREW, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  35. MAC-ICELAND, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  36. MAC-ROMANMACINTOSH, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  37. MAC-ROMANIA, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  38. MAC-SYMBOL, a platform specific character set.
  39. MAC-THAI, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  40. MAC-TURKISH, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  41. MAC-UKRAINE, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  42. CP437, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  43. CP437-IBM, an IBM variant of CP437.
  44. CP737, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for the Greek language.
  45. CP775, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for some Baltic languages.
  46. CP850, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  47. CP852, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  48. CP852-IBM, an IBM variant of CP852.
  49. CP855, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for the Russian language.
  50. CP857, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for the Turkish language.
  51. CP860, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for the Portuguese language.
  52. CP860-IBM, an IBM variant of CP860.
  53. CP861, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for the Icelandic language.
  54. CP861-IBM, an IBM variant of CP861.
  55. CP862, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for the Hebrew language.
  56. CP862-IBM, an IBM variant of CP862.
  57. CP863, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  58. CP863-IBM, an IBM variant of CP863.
  59. CP864, a DOS oldie, meant to be suitable for the Arabic language.
  60. CP864-IBM, an IBM variant of CP864.
  61. CP865, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for some Nordic languages.
  62. CP865-IBM, an IBM variant of CP865.
  63. CP866, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for the Russian language.
  64. CP869, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for the Greek language.
  65. CP869-IBM, an IBM variant of CP869.
  66. CP874, a DOS oldie, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for the Thai language.
  67. CP874-IBM, an IBM variant of CP874.
  68. WINDOWS-1250CP1250, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, heavily incompatible with ISO-8859-2.
  69. WINDOWS-1251CP1251, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, heavily incompatible with ISO-8859-5, meant to be suitable for the Russian language.
  70. WINDOWS-1252CP1252, a platform specific extension of the ISO-8859-1 character set.
  71. WINDOWS-1253CP1253, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, gratuitously incompatible with ISO-8859-7, meant to be suitable for the Greek language.
  72. WINDOWS-1254CP1254, a platform specific extension of the ISO-8859-9 character set.
  73. WINDOWS-1255CP1255, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, gratuitously incompatible with ISO-8859-8, suitable for the Hebrew language. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  74. WINDOWS-1256CP1256, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for the Arabic language.
  75. WINDOWS-1257CP1257, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  76. WINDOWS-1258CP1258, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set, meant to be suitable for the Vietnamese language. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  77. HP-ROMAN8, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  78. NEXTSTEP, a platform specific extension of the ASCII character set.
  79. EUC-JP, a multibyte character set for the Japanese language. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  80. SHIFT-JIS, a multibyte character set for the Japanese language. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  81. CP932, a Microsoft variant of SHIFT-JIS. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  82. ISO-2022-JP, a stateful 7-bit multibyte character set for the Japanese language. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  83. ISO-2022-JP-2, a stateful 7-bit multibyte character set for the Japanese language. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc 2.3 or newer or GNU libiconv.
  84. ISO-2022-JP-1, a stateful 7-bit multibyte character set for the Japanese language. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libiconv.
  85. EUC-CN, a multibyte character set for simplified Chinese. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  86. HZ, a stateful 7-bit multibyte character set for simplified Chinese. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libiconv.
  87. GBK, a multibyte character set for Chinese, This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  88. CP936, a Microsoft variant of GBK. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  89. GB18030, a multibyte character set for Chinese, This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  90. EUC-TW, a multibyte character set for traditional Chinese. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  91. BIG5, a multibyte character set for traditional Chinese. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  92. CP950, a Microsoft variant of BIG5. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  93. BIG5-HKSCS, a multibyte character set for traditional Chinese. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  94. ISO-2022-CN, a stateful 7-bit multibyte character set for Chinese. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  95. ISO-2022-CN-EXT, a stateful 7-bit multibyte character set for Chinese. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  96. EUC-KR, a multibyte character set for Korean. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  97. CP949, a Microsoft variant of EUC-KR. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  98. ISO-2022-KR, a stateful 7-bit multibyte character set for Korean. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  99. JOHAB, a multibyte character set for Korean used mostly on DOS. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  100. ARMSCII-8, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Armenian. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  101. GEORGIAN-ACADEMY, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Georgian. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  102. GEORGIAN-PS, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Georgian. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  103. TIS-620, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Thai. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  104. MULELAO-1, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Laotian. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libiconv.
  105. CP1133, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Laotian. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  106. VISCII, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Vietnamese. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.
  107. TCVN, an extension of the ASCII character set, suitable for the Vietnamese. This character set is only available on platforms with GNU libc or GNU libiconv.

Platform dependent: Only on GNU systems with GNU libc 2.2 or better and other systems (UNIX and Win32) on which the GNU libiconv C library has been installed

The character sets provided by the library function iconv can also be used as encodings. To create such an encoding, call EXT:MAKE-ENCODING with the character set name (a string) as the :CHARSET argument.

When an EXT:ENCODING is available both as a built-in and through iconv, the built-in is used, because it is more efficient and available across all platforms.

These encodings are not assigned to global variables, since there is no portable way to get the list of all character sets supported by iconv.

On GNU systems (such as GNU/Linux and GNU/Hurd) and on systems with GNU libiconv you get this list by calling the program iconv: iconv -l.

The reason we use only GNU libc 2.2 or GNU libiconv is that the other iconv implementations are broken in various ways and we do not want to deal with random CLISP crashes caused by those bugs. If your system supplies an iconv implementation which passes the GNU libiconv's test suite, please report that to and a future CLISP version will use iconv on your system.

29.4.3. Line Terminators

The line terminator mode can be one of the following three keywords:

:UNIX
Newline is represented by the ASCII LF character (U000A).
:MAC
Newline is represented by the ASCII CR character (U000D).
:DOS
Newline is represented by the ASCII CR followed by the ASCII LF.

Windows programs typically use the :DOS line terminator, sometimes they also accept :UNIX line terminators or produce :MAC line terminators.

The line terminator mode is relevant only for output (writing to a file/pipe/socket). During input, all three kinds of line terminators are recognized. See also Section 13.9, “Treatment of Newline during Input and Output [CLHS-13.1.8]”.

29.4.4. Function EXT:MAKE-ENCODING.

The function (EXT:MAKE-ENCODING &KEY :CHARSET :LINE-TERMINATOR :INPUT-ERROR-ACTION :OUTPUT-ERROR-ACTION) returns an EXT:ENCODING. The :CHARSET argument may be an encoding, a string, or :DEFAULT. The possible values for the line terminator argument are the keywords :UNIX, :MAC, :DOS.

The :INPUT-ERROR-ACTION argument specifies what happens when an invalid byte sequence is encountered while converting bytes to characters. Its value can be :ERROR, :IGNORE or a character to be used instead. The UNICODE character #\uFFFD is typically used to indicate an error in the input sequence.

The :OUTPUT-ERROR-ACTION argument specifies what happens when an invalid character is encountered while converting characters to bytes. Its value can be :ERROR, :IGNORE, a byte to be used instead, or a character to be used instead. The UNICODE character #\uFFFD can be used here only if it is encodable in the character set.

29.4.5. Function EXT:ENCODING-CHARSET.

Platform dependent: Only in CLISP built with compile-time flag UNICODE.

The function (EXT:ENCODING-CHARSET encoding) returns the charset of the encoding, as a SYMBOL or a STRING. Note that (STRING (EXT:ENCODING-CHARSET encoding)) is not necessarily a valid MIME name.

29.4.6. Default encodings.

Besides every file/pipe/socket stream containing an encoding, the following SYMBOL-MACRO places contain global EXT:ENCODINGs:

Macro CUSTOM:*DEFAULT-FILE-ENCODING*The SYMBOL-MACRO place CUSTOM:*DEFAULT-FILE-ENCODING* is the encoding used for new file/pipe/socket streams, when no :EXTERNAL-FORMAT argument was specified.

Platform dependent: Only in CLISP built with compile-time flag UNICODE.

The following are SYMBOL-MACRO places.

CUSTOM:*PATHNAME-ENCODING*
is the encoding used for pathnames in the file system. Normally, this is a 1:1 encoding. Its line terminator mode is ignored.
CUSTOM:*TERMINAL-ENCODING*
is the encoding used for communication with the terminal, in particular by *TERMINAL-IO*.
CUSTOM:*MISC-ENCODING*
is the encoding used for access to environment variables, command line options, and the like. Its line terminator mode is ignored.
CUSTOM:*FOREIGN-ENCODING*
is the encoding for characters and strings passed through the FFI (some plaforms only). Its value must be a 1:1 encoding, i.e., an encoding in which every character is represented by one byte.

The default encoding objects are initialized as described in -Edomain encoding

29.4.7. Converting between strings and byte vectors

Encodings can also be used to convert directly between strings and their corresponding byte vector representation according to that encoding.

(EXT:CONVERT-STRING-FROM-BYTES byte-vector encoding &KEY :START :END)
converts the subsequence of byte-vector from start to end to a STRING, according to the given encoding, and returns the resulting string.
(EXT:CONVERT-STRING-TO-BYTES string encoding &KEY :START :END)
converts the subsequence of string from start to end to a (VECTOR (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8)), according to the given encoding, and returns the resulting byte vector.

29.5. Extensions-1.5. Defining new kinds of Streams

Two mechanisms are supported for creating new streams with user-defined behavior:

  • You can create a new subclass of GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-STREAM and define methods for the elementary stream operations on it. These generic functions all have a name starting with the prefix "stream-".
  • You can create a new subclass of GSTREAM:GENERIC-STREAM-CONTROLLER and define methods for the elementary stream operations on it. These generic functions all have a name starting with the prefix "generic-stream-". The stream itself is a different object, created using the function gstream:make-generic-stream.

The FUNDAMENTAL-STREAM API is based on the STREAM-DEFINITION-BY-USER:GENERIC-FUNCTIONS proposal by David N. Gray and is supported by most Common Lisp implementations currently in use. The GSTREAM:GENERIC-STREAM-CONTROLLER API is CLISP-specific and is now obsolete.

29.5.1. Gray streams

This interface permits the definition of new classes of streams, and programming their behavior by defining methods for the elementary stream operations. It is based on the proposal STREAM-DEFINITION-BY-USER:GENERIC-FUNCTIONS of David N. Gray to X3J13.

All symbols defined by this interface, starting with the prefix "fundamental-" or "stream-", are exported from the package GRAY and re-exported from EXT.

Defined classes

GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-STREAM
This is a superclass of all user-defined streams. It is a subclass of STREAM and of STANDARD-OBJECT. Its metaclass is STANDARD-CLASS.
GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-INPUT-STREAM
This is a superclass of all user-defined input STREAMs. It is a subclass of GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-STREAM. The built-in function INPUT-STREAM-P returns true on instances of this class. This means that when you define a new stream class capable of doing input, you have to make it a subclass of GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-INPUT-STREAM.
GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-OUTPUT-STREAM
This is a superclass of all user-defined output STREAMs. It is a subclass of GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-STREAM. The built-in function OUTPUT-STREAM-P returns true on instances of this class. This means that when you define a new stream class capable of doing output, you have to make it a subclass of GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-OUTPUT-STREAM.
GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-CHARACTER-STREAM
This is a superclass of all user-defined streams whose STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE is CHARACTER. It is a subclass of GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-STREAM. It defines a method on STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE that returns CHARACTER.
GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-BINARY-STREAM
This is a superclass of all user-defined streams whose STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE is a subtype of INTEGER. It is a subclass of GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-STREAM. When you define a subclass of GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-BINARY-STREAM, you have to provide a method on STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE.
GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-CHARACTER-INPUT-STREAM
This is a convenience class inheriting from both GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-CHARACTER-STREAM and GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-INPUT-STREAM.
GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-CHARACTER-OUTPUT-STREAM
This is a convenience class inheriting from both GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-CHARACTER-STREAM and GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-OUTPUT-STREAM.
GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-BINARY-INPUT-STREAM
This is a convenience class inheriting from both GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-BINARY-STREAM and GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-INPUT-STREAM.
GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-BINARY-OUTPUT-STREAM
This is a convenience class inheriting from both GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-BINARY-STREAM and GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-OUTPUT-STREAM.

General generic functions defined on streams

(STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE stream)

Returns the stream's element type, normally a subtype of CHARACTER or INTEGER.

The method for GRAY:FUNDAMENTAL-CHARACTER-STREAM returns CHARACTER.

((SETF STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE) new-element-type stream)

Changes the stream's element type.

The default method SIGNALs an ERROR.

This function is a CLISP extension (see Section 21.3.1, “Function STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE).

(CLOSE stream &KEY :ABORT)

Closes the stream and flushes any associated buffers.

When you define a primary method on this function, do not forget to CALL-NEXT-METHOD.

(OPEN-STREAM-P stream)

Returns true before the stream has been closed, and NIL after the stream has been closed.

You do not need to add methods to this function.

(GRAY:STREAM-POSITION stream position)

Just like FILE-POSITION, but NIL position means inquire.

You must define a method for this function.

generic functions for character input

(GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR stream)

If a character was pushed back using GRAY:STREAM-UNREAD-CHAR, returns and consumes it. Otherwise returns and consumes the next character from the stream. Returns :EOF if the end-of-stream is reached.

You must define a method for this function.

(GRAY:STREAM-UNREAD-CHAR stream char)

Pushes char, which must be the last character read from the stream, back onto the front of the stream.

You must define a method for this function.

(GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR-NO-HANG stream)

Returns a character or :EOF, like GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR, if that would return immediately. If GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR's value is not available immediately, returns NIL instead of waiting.

The default method simply calls GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR; this is sufficient for streams whose GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR method never blocks.

(GRAY:STREAM-PEEK-CHAR stream)

If a character was pushed back using GRAY:STREAM-UNREAD-CHAR, returns it. Otherwise returns the next character from the stream, avoiding any side effects GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR would do. Returns :EOF if the end-of-stream is reached.

The default method calls GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR and GRAY:STREAM-UNREAD-CHAR; this is sufficient for streams whose GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR method has no side-effects.

(GRAY:STREAM-LISTEN stream)

If a character was pushed back using GRAY:STREAM-UNREAD-CHAR, returns it. Otherwise returns the next character from the stream, if already available. If no character is available immediately, or if end-of-stream is reached, returns NIL.

The default method calls GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR-NO-HANG and GRAY:STREAM-UNREAD-CHAR; this is sufficient for streams whose GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR method has no side-effects.

(GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR-WILL-HANG-P stream)

Returns NIL if GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR will return immediately. Otherwise it returns true.

The default method calls GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR-NO-HANG and GRAY:STREAM-UNREAD-CHAR; this is sufficient for streams whose GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR method has no side-effects.

This function is a CLISP extension (see EXT:READ-CHAR-WILL-HANG-P).

(GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR-SEQUENCE stream sequence &OPTIONAL [start [end]])

Fills the subsequence of sequence specified by :START and :END with characters consecutively read from stream. Returns the index of the first element of sequence that was not updated (= end, or < end if the stream reached its end).

sequence is an ARRAY of CHARACTERs, i.e. a STRING. start is a nonnegative INTEGER and defaults to 0. end is a nonnegative INTEGER or NIL and defaults to NIL, which stands for (LENGTH sequence).

The default method repeatedly calls GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR; this is always sufficient if speed does not matter.

This function is a CLISP extension (see EXT:READ-CHAR-SEQUENCE).

(GRAY:STREAM-READ-LINE stream)

Reads a line of characters, and return two values: the line (a STRING, without the terminating #\Newline character), and a BOOLEAN value which is true if the line was terminated by end-of-stream instead of #\Newline.

The default method repeatedly calls GRAY:STREAM-READ-CHAR; this is always sufficient.

(GRAY:STREAM-CLEAR-INPUT stream)

Clears all pending interactive input from the stream, and returns true if some pending input was removed.

The default method does nothing and returns NIL; this is sufficient for non-interactive streams.

generic functions for character output

(GRAY:STREAM-WRITE-CHAR stream char)

Writes char.

You must define a method for this function.

(GRAY:STREAM-LINE-COLUMN stream)

Returns the column number where the next character would be written (0 stands for the first column), or NIL if that is not meaningful for this stream.

You must define a method for this function.

(GRAY:STREAM-START-LINE-P stream)

Returns true if the next character would be written at the start of a new line.

The default method calls GRAY:STREAM-LINE-COLUMN and compares its result with 0; this is sufficient for streams whose GRAY:STREAM-LINE-COLUMN never returns NIL.

(GRAY:STREAM-WRITE-CHAR-SEQUENCE stream sequence &OPTIONAL [start [end]])

Outputs the subsequence of sequence specified by :START and :END to stream.

sequence is an ARRAY of CHARACTERs, i.e. a STRING. start is a nonnegative INTEGER and defaults to 0. end is a nonnegative integer or NIL and defaults to NIL, which stands for (LENGTH sequence).

The default method repeatedly calls GRAY:STREAM-WRITE-CHAR; this is always sufficient if speed does not matter.

This function is a CLISP extension (see EXT:WRITE-CHAR-SEQUENCE).

(GRAY:STREAM-WRITE-STRING stream string &OPTIONAL [start [end]])

Outputs the subsequence of string specified by :START and :END to stream. Returns string.

string is a string. start is a nonnegative integer and default to 0. end is a nonnegative integer or NIL and defaults to NIL, which stands for (LENGTH string).

The default method calls GRAY:STREAM-WRITE-CHAR-SEQUENCE; this is always sufficient.

(GRAY:STREAM-TERPRI stream)

Outputs a #\Newline character.

The default method calls GRAY:STREAM-WRITE-CHAR; this is always sufficient.

(GRAY:STREAM-FRESH-LINE stream)

Possibly outputs a #\Newline character, so as to ensure that the next character would be written at the start of a new line. Returns true if it did output a #\Newline character.

The default method calls GRAY:STREAM-START-LINE-P and then GRAY:STREAM-TERPRI if necessary; this is always sufficient.

(GRAY:STREAM-FINISH-OUTPUT stream)

Ensures that any buffered output has reached its destination, and then returns.

The default method does nothing.

(GRAY:STREAM-FORCE-OUTPUT stream)

Brings any buffered output on its way towards its destination, and returns without waiting until it has reached its destination.

The default method does nothing.

(GRAY:STREAM-CLEAR-OUTPUT stream)

Attempts to discard any buffered output which has not yet reached its destination.

The default method does nothing.

(GRAY:STREAM-ADVANCE-TO-COLUMN stream column)

Ensures that the next character will be written at column at least.

The default method outputs an appropriate amount of space characters; this is sufficient for non-proportional output.

generic functions for binary input

(GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE stream)

Returns and consumes the next integer from the stream. Returns :EOF if the end-of-stream is reached.

You must define a method for this function.

(GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE-LOOKAHEAD stream)

To be called only if stream's STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE is (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8) or (SIGNED-BYTE 8). Returns T if GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE would return immediately with an INTEGER result. Returns :EOF if the end-of-stream is already known to be reached. If GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE's value is not available immediately, returns NIL instead of waiting.

You must define a method for this function.

This function is a CLISP extension (see EXT:READ-BYTE-LOOKAHEAD).

(GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE-WILL-HANG-P stream)

To be called only if stream's STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE is (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8) or (SIGNED-BYTE 8). Returns NIL if GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE will return immediately. Otherwise it returns true.

The default method calls GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE-LOOKAHEAD; this is always sufficient.

This function is a CLISP extension (see EXT:READ-BYTE-WILL-HANG-P).

(GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE-NO-HANG stream)

To be called only if stream's STREAM-ELEMENT-TYPE is (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8) or (SIGNED-BYTE 8). Returns an INTEGER or :EOF, like GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE, if that would return immediately. If GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE's value is not available immediately, returns NIL instead of waiting.

The default method calls GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE if GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE-LOOKAHEAD returns true; this is always sufficient.

This function is a CLISP extension (see EXT:READ-BYTE-NO-HANG).

(GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE-SEQUENCE stream sequence &OPTIONAL [start [end [no-hang]]])

Fills the subsequence of sequence specified by :START and :END with integers consecutively read from stream. Returns the index of the first element of sequence that was not updated (= end, or < end if the stream reached its end).

sequence is an ARRAY of INTEGERs. start is a nonnegative INTEGER and defaults to 0. end is a nonnegative INTEGER or NIL and defaults to NIL, which stands for (LENGTH sequence).

The default method repeatedly calls GRAY:STREAM-READ-BYTE; this is always sufficient if speed does not matter.

This function is a CLISP extension (see EXT:READ-BYTE-SEQUENCE).

generic functions for binary output

(GRAY:STREAM-WRITE-BYTE stream integer)

Writes integer.

You must define a method for this function.

(GRAY:STREAM-WRITE-BYTE-SEQUENCE stream sequence &OPTIONAL [start [end [no-hang]]])

Outputs the subsequence of sequence specified by :START and :END to stream

sequence is an ARRAY of INTEGERs. start is a nonnegative INTEGER and defaults to 0. end is a nonnegative INTEGER or NIL and defaults to NIL, which stands for (LENGTH sequence).

The default method repeatedly calls GRAY:STREAM-WRITE-BYTE; this is always sufficient if speed does not matter.

This function is a CLISP extension (see EXT:WRITE-BYTE-SEQUENCE).

29.5.2. Generic streams

This interface is CLISP-specific and now obsolete. Please use the Gray streams interface instead.

Generic streams are user programmable streams. The programmer interface:

(gstream:make-generic-stream controller)
returns a generic stream.
(gstream:generic-stream-controller stream)
returns a private object to which generic stream methods dispatch. The typical usage is to retrieve the object originally provided by the user in gstream:make-generic-stream.
(gstream:generic-stream-p stream)
determines whether a stream is a generic stream, returning T if it is, NIL otherwise.

In order to specify the behavior of a generic stream, the user must define CLOS methods on the following CLOS generic functions. The function gstream:generic-stream-xyz corresponds to the Common Lisp function xyz. They all take a controller and some number of arguments.

(gstream:generic-stream-read-char controller)
Returns and consumes the next character, NIL at end of file. Takes one argument, the controller object.
(gstream:generic-stream-peek-char controller)
Returns the next character, NIL at end of file. A second value indicates whether the side effects associated with consuming the character were executed: T means that a full READ-CHAR was done, NIL means that no side effects were done. Takes one argument, the controller object.
(gstream:generic-stream-read-byte controller)
Returns and consumes the next integer, NIL at end of file. Takes one argument, the controller object.
(gstream:generic-stream-read-char-will-hang-p controller)
This generic function is used to query the stream's input status. It returns NIL if gstream:generic-stream-read-char and gstream:generic-stream-peek-char will certainly return immediately. Otherwise it returns true.
(gstream:generic-stream-write-char controller char)
The first argument is the controller object. The second argument is the character to be written.
(gstream:generic-stream-write-byte controller by)
The first argument is the controller object. The second argument is the integer to be written.
(gstream:generic-stream-write-string controller string start length)
Writes the subsequence of string starting from start of length length. The first argument is the controller object.
(gstream:generic-stream-clear-input controller)
(gstream:generic-stream-clear-output controller)
(gstream:generic-stream-finish-output controller)
(gstream:generic-stream-force-output controller)
(gstream:generic-stream-close controller)
Take one argument, the controller object.

29.6. Extensions-1.6. Weak Pointers

A weak pointer is an object holding a reference to a given object, without keeping the latter from being garbage-collected.

(EXT:MAKE-WEAK-POINTER value)
returns a fresh weak pointer referring to value.
(EXT:WEAK-POINTER-P object)
returns true if the object is of type EXT:WEAK-POINTER.
(EXT:WEAK-POINTER-VALUE weak-pointer)
returns two values: The original value and T, if the value has not yet been garbage-collected, else NIL and NIL. It is SETF-able: you can change the value that the weak pointer points to.

CLISP also has weak HASH-TABLE.

29.7. Extensions-1.7. Finalization

Calling (EXT:FINALIZE object function) has the effect that when the specified object is being garbage-collected, (FUNCALL function object) will be executed.

Calling (EXT:FINALIZE object function guardian) has a similar effect, but only as long as the guardian has not been garbage-collected: when object is being garbage-collected, (FUNCALL function object guardian) will be executed. If the guardian is garbage-collected before object is, nothing happens.

Note

The time when “the object is being garbage-collected” is not defined deterministically. (Actually, it might possibly never occur.) It denotes a moment at which no references to object exist from other Lisp objects. When the function is called, object (and possibly guardian) enter the "arena of live Lisp objects" again.

No finalization request will be executed more than once.

29.8. Extensions-1.8. The Prompt

CLISP prompt consists of 3 mandatory parts: “start”, “body”, and “finish”; and 2 optional parts: “break”, which appears only during debugging (after BREAK or ERROR), and “step”, which appears only during STEPping. Each part is controlled by a custom variable, which can be either a STRING or a FUNCTION of no arguments returning a STRING (if it is something else - or if the return value was not a STRING - it is printed with PRINC). In the order of invocation:

CUSTOM:*PROMPT-START*
Defaults to an empty string.
CUSTOM:*PROMPT-STEP*
Used only during STEPping. Defaults to "Step n ", where n is the stepping level as returned by EXT:STEP-LEVEL.
CUSTOM:*PROMPT-BREAK*
Used only inside break loop (during debugging). Defaults to "Break n ", where n is the break level as returned by EXT:BREAK-LEVEL.
CUSTOM:*PROMPT-BODY*
Defaults to "package[n]" where package is the shortest (nick)name (as returned by EXT:PACKAGE-SHORT-NAME) of the current package *PACKAGE* if it is not the same as it was in the beginning (determined by EXT:PROMPT-NEW-PACKAGE) or if it does not contain symbol T, (it is assumed that in the latter case you would want to keep in mind that your current package is something weird); and n is the index of the current prompt, kept in EXT:*COMMAND-INDEX*;
CUSTOM:*PROMPT-FINISH*
Defaults to .

To facilitate your own custom prompt creation, the following functions and variables are available:

EXT:BREAK-LEVEL
This FUNCTION returns current BREAK/ERROR level.
EXT:STEP-LEVEL
This FUNCTION returns current STEP level.
EXT:PROMPT-NEW-PACKAGE
This FUNCTION returns *PACKAGE* or NIL if the current package is the same as it was initially.
EXT:PACKAGE-SHORT-NAME
This FUNCTION takes one argument, a PACKAGE, and returns its shortest name or nickname.
EXT:*COMMAND-INDEX*
contains the current prompt number; it is your responsibility to increment it (this variable is bound to 0 before saving the memory image).

29.9. Extensions-1.9. Maximum ANSI CL compliance

Some [ANSI CL standard] features are turned off by default for backwards compatibility. They can be switched on, all at once, by setting the SYMBOL-MACRO CUSTOM:*ANSI* to T, or they can be switched on individually. Setting CUSTOM:*ANSI* to T implies the following:

Note that if you run CLISP with the -ansi switch or set the SYMBOL-MACRO CUSTOM:*ANSI* to T and then save memory image, then all subsequent invocations of CLISP with this image will be as if with -ansi (regardless whether you actually supply the -ansi switch). You can always set the SYMBOL-MACRO CUSTOM:*ANSI* to NIL, or invoke CLISP with the -traditional switch, reversing the above settings, i.e.,

29.10. Extensions-1.10. Additional Fancy Macros

CLISP comes with some extension macros, mostly defined in the file macros3.lisp and loaded from the file init.lisp during make:

Macro EXT:ETHE(EXT:ETHE value-type form) enforces a type check in both interpreted and compiled code.

Macros EXT:LETF & EXT:LETF*These macros are similar to LET and LET*, respectively, except that they can bind places, even places with multiple values. Example:

 (letf (((values a b) form)) ...)

is equivalent to

 (multiple-value-bind (a b) form ...)

while

(letf (((first l) 7)) ...)

is approximately equivalent to

 (LET* ((#:g1 l) (#:g2 (first #:g1)))
   (UNWIND-PROTECT (PROGN (SETF (first #:g1) 7) ...)
      (SETF (first #:g1) #:g2)))

Macro EXT:WITH-COLLECTSimilar to the LOOP's collect construct, except that it is looks more "Lispy" and can appear arbitrarily deep. It defines local macros (with MACROLET) which collect objects given to it into lists, which are then returned as multiple values. E.g.,

 (ext:with-collect (c0 c1)
   (dotimes (i 10) (if (oddp i) (c0 i) (c1 i))))

returns two lists (1 3 5 7 9) and (0 2 4 6 8) as multiple values.

Macro EXT:WITH-GENSYMSSimilar to its namesake from Paul Graham's book On Lisp, this macro is useful for writing other macros:

 (with-gensyms ("FOO-" bar baz zot) ...)

expands to

 (let ((bar (gensym "FOO-BAR-"))
       (baz (gensym "FOO-BAZ-"))
       (zot (gensym "FOO-ZOT-")))
   ...)

Function EXT:REMOVE-PLISTSimilar to REMOVE and REMF, this function removes some properties from a property list. It is non-destructve and thus can be used on &REST arguments to remove some keyword parameters, e.g.,

 (defmacro with-foo ((&KEY foo1 foo2) &BODY body)
   `(... ,foo1 ... ,foo2 ... ,@body))
 (defmacro with-foo-bar ((&REST opts &KEY bar1 bar2
                          &ALLOW-OTHER-KEYS)
                         &BODY body)
   `(with-foo (,@(remove-plist opts :bar1 :bar2)
      ... ,bar1 ... ,bar2 ... ,@body)))
 (defun foo-bar ()
   (with-foo-bar (:bar1 1 :foo2 2) ...))

here WITH-FOO does not receive the :BAR1 1 argument from FOO-BAR.

Macros EXT:WITH-HTML-OUTPUT and EXT:WITH-HTTP-OUTPUTDefined in inspect.lisp, these macros are useful for the rudimentary HTTP server defined there.

29.11. Extensions-1.11. Customizing CLISP behavior.

The user-customizable variables are located in the package CUSTOM and thus can be listed using (APROPOS "" "CUSTOM"):

CUSTOM:*ANSI*CUSTOM:*APPLYHOOK*
CUSTOM:*APROPOS-DO-MORE*CUSTOM:*APROPOS-MATCHER*
CUSTOM:*BREAK-ON-WARNINGS*CUSTOM:*BROWSER*
CUSTOM:*BROWSERS*CUSTOM:*CLHS-ROOT-DEFAULT*
CUSTOM:*COERCE-FIXNUM-CHAR-ANSI*CUSTOM:*COMPILE-WARNINGS*
CUSTOM:*COMPILED-FILE-TYPES*CUSTOM:*CURRENT-LANGUAGE*
CUSTOM:*DEFAULT-FILE-ENCODING*CUSTOM:*DEFAULT-FLOAT-FORMAT*
CUSTOM:*DEFAULT-TIME-ZONE*CUSTOM:*DEFTYPE-DEPTH-LIMIT*
CUSTOM:*DEVICE-PREFIX*CUSTOM:*EDITOR*
CUSTOM:*ERROR-HANDLER*CUSTOM:*EVALHOOK*
CUSTOM:*FLOATING-POINT-CONTAGION-ANSI*CUSTOM:*FOREIGN-ENCODING*
CUSTOM:*INSPECT-BROWSER*CUSTOM:*INSPECT-FRONTEND*
CUSTOM:*INSPECT-LENGTH*CUSTOM:*INSPECT-PRINT-LENGTH*
CUSTOM:*INSPECT-PRINT-LEVEL*CUSTOM:*INSPECT-PRINT-LINES*
CUSTOM:*LIB-DIRECTORY*CUSTOM:*LOAD-COMPILING*
CUSTOM:*LOAD-ECHO*CUSTOM:*LOAD-LOGICAL-PATHNAME-TRANSLATIONS-DATABASE*
CUSTOM:*LOAD-OBSOLETE-ACTION*CUSTOM:*LOAD-PATHS*
CUSTOM:*MERGE-PATHNAMES-ANSI*CUSTOM:*MISC-ENCODING*
CUSTOM:*PACKAGE-TASKS-TREAT-SPECIALLY*CUSTOM:*PARSE-NAMESTRING-ANSI*
CUSTOM:*PARSE-NAMESTRING-DOT-FILE*CUSTOM:*PATHNAME-ENCODING*
CUSTOM:*PPRINT-FIRST-NEWLINE*CUSTOM:*PRINT-CLOSURE*
CUSTOM:*PRINT-INDENT-LISTS*CUSTOM:*PRINT-PATHNAMES-ANSI*
CUSTOM:*PRINT-PRETTY-FILL*CUSTOM:*PRINT-RPARS*
CUSTOM:*PRINT-SYMBOLS-LONG*CUSTOM:*PROMPT-BODY*
CUSTOM:*PROMPT-BREAK*CUSTOM:*PROMPT-FINISH*
CUSTOM:*PROMPT-START*CUSTOM:*PROMPT-STEP*
CUSTOM:*SEQUENCE-COUNT-ANSI*CUSTOM:*SOURCE-FILE-TYPES*
CUSTOM:*SUPPRESS-CHECK-REDEFINITION*CUSTOM:*SYSTEM-PACKAGE-LIST*
CUSTOM:*TERMINAL-ENCODING*CUSTOM:*TRACE-INDENT*
CUSTOM:*USER-MAIL-ADDRESS*CUSTOM:*WARN-ON-FLOATING-POINT-CONTAGION*
CUSTOM:*WITH-HTML-OUTPUT-DOCTYPE* 

Note

Some of these variables are platform-specific.

You should set these variables (and do whatever other customization you see fit) in the file #P"config.lisp" in the build directory before building CLISP. Alternatively, after building CLISP, or if you are using a binary distribution of CLISP, you can modify #P"config.lisp", compile and load it, and then save the memory image. Finally, you can create an “RC” (run control) file which is loaded whenever CLISP is started (see the documentation for option -norc in your platform-specific copy of the manual page).

29.12. Extensions-1.12. Code Walker

You can use EXT:EXPAND-FORM to expand all the macros, SYMBOL-MACROs, etc, in a single form:

 (expand-form '(macrolet ((bar (x) `(print ,x)))
                 (macrolet ((baz (x) `(bar ,x)))
                   (symbol-macrolet ((z 3))
                     (baz z)))))

returns two values: (locally (print 3)) (the expansion) and T (an indicator that some expansion has actually been done).

This is sometimes called a “code walker”, except that the code walker would probably leave the MACROLET and SYMBOL-MACROLET forms intact and just do the expansion.

Chapter 30. Extensions-2: Platform specific Extensions

30.1. Extensions-2.1. Random Screen Access

Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.

(SCREEN:MAKE-WINDOW)
returns a WINDOW-STREAM. As long as this stream is open, the terminal is in cbreak/noecho mode. *TERMINAL-IO* should not be used for input or output during this time. (Use EXT:WITH-KEYBOARD and EXT:*KEYBOARD-INPUT* instead.)
(SCREEN:WITH-WINDOW . body)
binds SCREEN:*WINDOW* to a WINDOW-STREAM and executes body. The stream is guaranteed to be closed when the body is left. During its execution, *TERMINAL-IO* should not be used, as above.
(SCREEN:WINDOW-SIZE window-stream)
returns the window's size, as two values: height (= ymax+1) and width (= xmax+1).
(SCREEN:WINDOW-CURSOR-POSITION window-stream)
returns the position of the cursor in the window, as two values: line (≥0, ≤ymax, 0 means top), column (≥0, ≤xmax, 0 means left margin).
(SCREEN:SET-WINDOW-CURSOR-POSITION window-stream line column)
sets the position of the cursor in the window.
(SCREEN:CLEAR-WINDOW window-stream)
clears the window's contents and puts the cursor in the upper left corner.
(SCREEN:CLEAR-WINDOW-TO-EOT window-stream)
clears the window's contents from the cursor position to the end of window.
(SCREEN:CLEAR-WINDOW-TO-EOL window-stream)
clears the window's contents from the cursor position to the end of line.
(SCREEN:DELETE-WINDOW-LINE window-stream)
removes the cursor's line, moves the lines below it up by one line and clears the window's last line.
(SCREEN:INSERT-WINDOW-LINE window-stream)
inserts a line at the cursor's line, moving the lines below it down by one line.
(SCREEN:HIGHLIGHT-ON window-stream)
switches highlighted output on.
(SCREEN:HIGHLIGHT-OFF window-stream)
switches highlighted output off.
(SCREEN:WINDOW-CURSOR-ON window-stream)
makes the cursor visible, a cursor block in most implementations.
(SCREEN:WINDOW-CURSOR-OFF window-stream)
makes the cursor invisible, in implementations where this is possible.

30.2. Extensions-2.2. External Modules

Platform dependent: UNIX and Win32 platforms only.

Modules on Win32.

Everything described in the section will work verbatim on Win32 when using Cygwin or MinGW, except for one thing - you will need to replace the run extension in lisp.run with the Win32 executable extension exe.

For historical reasons, all examples appear to assume UNIX and use the run file type (“extension”) for the CLISP run-time. This does not mean that they will not work on Win32.

30.2.1. Overview

CLISP has a facility for adding external modules (written in C, for example). It is invoked through clisp-link.

A module is a piece of external code which defines extra Lisp objects, symbols and functions. A module name must consist of the characters A-Z, a-z, _, 0-9. The module name “clisp” is reserved. Normally a module name is derived from the corresponding file name.

clisp-link needs a directory containing:

  • modules.d
  • modules.c
  • clisp.h

clisp-link expects to find these files in a subdirectory linkkit/ of the current directory. This can be overridden by the environment variable CLISP_LINKKIT.

clisp-link operates on CLISP linking sets and on module sets.

linking setA linking set is a directory containing:

makevars

some /bin/sh commands, setting the variables

CC
the C compiler
CPPFLAGS
flags for the C compiler, when preprocessing or compiling
CFLAGS
flags for the C compiler, when compiling or linking
CLFLAGS
flags for the C compiler, when linking
LIBS
libraries to use when linking
X_LIBS
additional X Window System libraries to use
RANLIB
the ranlib command
FILES
the list of files needed when linking
modules.h
the list of modules contained in this linking set
modules.o
the compiled list of modules contained in this linking set
all the FILES
listed in makevars
lisp.run
the executable
#P"lispinit.mem"
the memory image

To run a CLISP contained in some linking set dir, call dir/lisp.run -M dir/lispinit.mem

module setA module set is a directory containing:

link.sh
some /bin/sh commands, which prepare the directory before linking, and set the variables NEW_FILES, NEW_LIBS, NEW_MODULES, TO_LOAD and optionally TO_PRELOAD
and any other files
needed by link.sh

Note that in link.sh the module set directory is referred to as $modulename/.

NEW_FILES
the space-separated list of files that belong to the module set and will belong to every new linking set.
NEW_LIBS
the space-separated list of files or C compiler switches that need to be passed to the C compiler when linking the lisp.run belonging to a new linking set.
NEW_MODULES
the space-separated list of the module names belonging to the module set. Normally, every #P".c" file in the module set defines a module of its own. The module name is derived from the file name.
TO_LOAD
the space-separated list of Lisp files to load before building the #P"lispinit.mem" belonging to a new linking set.
TO_PRELOAD (optional)
the space-separated list of Lisp files to load into an intermediate #P"lispinit.mem" file, before building the #P"lispinit.mem" belonging to a new linking set. This variable is usually used for defining Lisp packages which must be present when the new #P".c" files are initialized. E.g., the FFI:DEF-CALL-IN functions must reside in already defined packages; see Example 30.9, “Calling Lisp from C.

The command clisp-link create-module-set module-dir file1.c ... creates a module set in module-dir which refers (via symbolic links) to file1.c etc. The files are expected to be modules of their own.

The command clisp-link add-module-set module-dir source-dir destination-dir combines a linking set in source-dir and a module in module-dir to a new linking set, in a directory destination-dir which is newly created.

The command clisp-link run source-dir module-dir ... runs the linking set in source-dir, with the module in module-dir loaded. More than one module can be specified. If CLISP has been built with the configuration option --with-dynamic-modules, the loading will be performed through dynamic loading. Otherwise - this is much slower - a temporary linking set will be created and deleted afterwards. Note that dynamic loading does not work on all operating systems, and that --with-dynamic-modules precludes some efficiency optimizations which are enabled by default.

30.2.2. Function EXT:MODULE-INFO

Function (EXT:MODULE-INFO &OPTIONAL name verbose) allows one to inquire about what modules are available in the currently running image. When called without arguments, it returns the list of module names, starting with “clisp”. When name is supplied and names a module, 3 values are returned - name, subr-count, object-count. When verbose is non-NIL, the full list of module lisp function names written in C (Subrs) and the full list of internal lisp objects available in C code are additionally returned for the total of 5 values.

30.2.3. Function SYS::DYNLOAD-MODULES

Platform dependent: some UNIX platforms only, compiled with compile-time flag --with-dynamic-modules.

Note

Note that dynamic loading does not work on all operating systems (dlopen is required), and that --with-dynamic-modules precludes some efficiency optimizations which are on by default.

Function (SYS::DYNLOAD-MODULES filename ({name}+)) loads a shared object file or library containing a number of named external CLISP modules. This facility cannot be used to dlopen and access arbitrary shared libraries.

External modules for CLISP are those which contain a module__name__subr_tab, among others. This serves to register external functions which operate on Lisp-level structures with CLISP.

To use dlopen with modules, you should add -fPIC to the module's compilation options. Something like cc -shared -o name.so name.o may be needed to produce the shared object file.

30.2.4. Example

To link in the FFI bindings for the GNU/Linux operating system, the following steps are needed. (Step 1 and step 2 need not be executed in this order.)

  1. Create a new module set:

    $ clisp-link create-module-set linux /somewhere/bindings/linux.c

    Modify the newly created linux/link.sh to add -lm; to the libraries: replace

    NEW_LIBS="$file_list"

    with

    NEW_LIBS="$file_list -lm"

    Modify the newly created linux/link.sh to load linux.fas before saving the memory image: replace

    TO_LOAD=''

    with

    TO_LOAD='/somewhere/bindings/linux.fas'
  2. Compile linux.lisp, creating linux.c:

    $ clisp -c /somewhere/bindings/linux.lisp
  3. Create a new linking set:

    $ clisp-link add-module-set linux base base+linux
  4. Run and try it:

    $ base+linux/lisp.run -M base+linux/lispinit.mem -x '(linux:stat "/tmp")'

30.2.5. Module tools

There are some tools to facilitate easy module writing.

30.2.5.1. Modprep

If your module is written in C, you can pre-process your sources with modprep.lisp in the CLISP distribution and define lisp functions with the DEFUN macro:

DEFUN(MY-PACKAGE:MY-FUNCTION-NAME, arg1 arg2 &KEY FOO BAR) {
  if (!boundp(STACK_0)) STACK_0 = fixnum(0); /* BAR */
  if (!boundp(STACK_1)) STACK_1 = fixnum(1); /* FOO */
  pushSTACK(`MY-PACKAGE::SOME-SYMBOL`); /* create a symbol in the package */
  pushSTACK(`#(:THIS :IS :A :VECTOR)`); /* some vector, created once */
  pushSTACK(``MY-PACKAGE::MY-FUNCTION-NAME``); /* double `` means FUNCTION */
  VALUES1(listof(7)); /* cons up a new list and clean up the STACK */
}

Then (MY-PACKAGE:MY-FUNCTION-NAME 'A 12 :FOO T) will return (A 12 T 0 MY-PACKAGE::SOME-SYMBOL #(:THIS :IS :A :VECTOR) #<ADD-ON-SYSTEM-FUNCTION MY-PACKAGE:MY-FUNCTION-NAME>) (assuming you EXPORTed MY-FUNCTION-NAME from MY-PACKAGE).

Another useful macro is DEFVAR which lets you create a GC-visible object.

See modules/syscalls and other included modules for more examples and file modprep.lisp for full documentation.

Warning

If you manipulate Lisp objects, you need to watch for GC-safety.

30.2.5.2. Exporting

If your module uses FFI to interface to a C library, you might want to make your module package case-sensitive and use exporting.lisp in the CLISP distribution to make all FFI forms export the symbols they define. See modules/netica and modules/bindings/* for examples.

30.2.6. Modules included in the distribution.

The following modules come with the distribution of CLISP:

bindings

Call the operating system functions from CLISP. The following platforms are supported:

CLX

Call Xlib functions from CLISP. Two implementations are supplied:

oracle
Access Oracle from CLISP; by John Hinsdale.
fastcgi
Access FastCGI from CLISP; by John Hinsdale.
netica
Work with Bayesian belief networks and influence diagrams using Netica.
postgresql
Access PostgreSQL from CLISP.
queens
Compute the number of solutions to the n-queens problem on a n*n checkboard (a toy example for the users to explore).
dirkey
Directory Access
berkeley-db
Berkeley DB from Sleepycat Software interface
regexp
The POSIX Regular Expressions matching, compiling, executing.
pcre
The Perl Compatible Regular Expressions matching, compiling, executing.
syscalls
Use some system calls in a platform-independent way.
wildcard
Shell (/bin/sh) globbing

30.2.6.1. Netica Interface

This is an interface to the Netica C API. The package NETICA is case-sensitive, you would write (netica:GetNodeExpectedUtils_bn ...) when you need to call GetNodeExpectedUtils_bn()

Additionally, some higher level functionality is available (see modules/netica/demo.lisp for a sample usage):

(netica:start-netica &KEY :license :verbose)
Call NewNeticaEnviron_ns() and InitNetica_bn() and print some statistics; initialize netica:*env*.
(netica:check-errors &KEY :env :clear :severity)
Show and, optionally, clear, the errors of the given severity and above. You should call this function after every call to a Netica function. Every wrapper function in this list calls it, so you do not need to call it after a call to a wrapper function.
(netica:error-message error)
Convert netica error to a STRING containing error category, error severity, error number, error message.
(netica:close-netica &KEY :env :verbose)
Terminate the netica session. Sets netica:*env* to NIL when it was closed.
(netica:make-net &KEY :name :comment :title :env :verbose)
Make a new network with a given name, title and comment and return it.
(netica:net-info net)
Print some information about the net (name, title, comment, file name and nodes).
(netica:make-node &KEY :name :net :kind :levels :states :num-states :title :comment :parents :cpt :x :y :env :verbose)
Make a new node with the given name and many other parameters.
(netica:node-info node &KEY :header)
Print some information about the node, preceded by the header.
(netica:get-beliefs node &KEY :env :verbose)
Get the belief vector for the node.
(netica:enter-finding net node state &KEY :env :verbose)
Enter a finding by node and state names.
(netica:save-net net &KEY :file :env :verbose)
Write a network to a file.
(netica:read-net file &KEY :env :verbose)
Read a network from a file.
(netica:with-open-dne-file (var file &REST opts) &BODY body)
Open a netica stream, execute body, close the stream - just like WITH-OPEN-FILE.
netica:*verbose*
The log STREAM or NIL; the default value for the :VERBOSE argument.
netica:*license*
The license key provided by Norsys; the default value for the :LICENSE argument.
netica:*env*
The Netica environment object; the default value for the :ENV argument.

30.2.6.2. Directory Access

This module provides some directory access from lisp, in package LDAP. 3 types of directory keys may exist, depending on the compilation environment.

valid directory key types

:win32
Win32 registry access
:gnome
gnome-config access
:ldap
LDAP interface via OpenLDAP or compatible

The following functions and macros are exported (please note that these features are experimental and the API may be modified in the future).

(LDAP:DIR-KEY-OPEN dkey pathname &KEY (:DIRECTION :INPUT) :IF-DOES-NOT-EXIST)
Open the directory key under dkey, which should be either an open directory key or a valid directory key type. The meaning of the :DIRECTION and :IF-DOES-NOT-EXIST keyword arguments is the same as for OPEN.
(LDAP:DIR-KEY-CLOSE dkey)
Close the directory key. The preferred way is to use the LDAP:WITH-DIR-KEY-OPEN macro.
(LDAP:WITH-DIR-KEY-OPEN (variable dkey pathname &REST {option}*) &BODY body)
Open the directory key (by calling LDAP:DIR-KEY-OPEN on dkey, pathname and options), bind it to variable, execute body, then close it with LDAP:DIR-KEY-CLOSE.
(LDAP:DIR-KEY-TYPE dkey)
Return the directory key type of the directory key
(LDAP:DIR-KEY-PATH dkey)
Return the path of this directory key, which is the pathname argument of LDAP:DIR-KEY-OPEN if dkey was a directory key type or the concatenation of the pathname argument and the ldap:dir-key-path of dkey.
(LDAP:DIR-KEY-DIRECTION dkey)
One of :INPUT, :OUTPUT and :IO, indicating the permitted operation on this key and its derivatives.
(LDAP:DIR-KEY-CLOSED-P dkey)
Check whether the key has been closed. It is not an error to close a closed key.
(LDAP:DIR-KEY-SUBKEY-DELETE dkey subkey) (LDAP:DIR-KEY-VALUE-DELETE dkey attribute)
Delete the specified subkey or attribute.
(LDAP:DIR-KEY-SUBKEY dkey) (LDAP:DIR-KEY-ATTRIBUTES dkey)
Return the list of the subkeys or attributes.
(LDAP:DIR-KEY-VALUE dkey attribute &OPTIONAL default)
Return the value of the specified attribute, similar to GETHASH and SETFable just like GETHASH.
(LDAP:DIR-KEY-INFO dkey)
Return some information about the directory key. This is highly platform-dependent and will probably be removed or replaced or modified in the future.
(LDAP:WITH-DIR-KEY-SEARCH (key-iter atribute-iter dkey pathname &KEY :scope) &BODY body)

This is the main way to iterate over the subtree under the key dkey+pathname.

key-iter is a non-NIL symbol and is bound via MACROLET to a macro, each call of which returns the next subkey.

atribute-iter is a symbol and is bound, when non-NIL, to a macro, each call of which returns two values - the next attribute and its value.

The :scope keyword argument specifies the scope of the search and can be

:self
iterate over the key itself
:level
iterate over the children of the key
:tree
iterate over the subtree

LDAP:WITH-DIR-KEY-SEARCH is used to implement LDAP:DIR-KEY-VALUES, LDAP:DIR-KEY-CHILDREN and LDAP:DIR-KEY-DUMP-TREE in dirkey.lisp.

30.2.6.3. Berkeley DB access.

This interface to Berkeley DB from Sleepycat Software exports almost all functions in the official C API.

30.2.6.3.1. Database Environment
(BDB:DB-VERSION)
Return version information as 4 values: descriptive STRING and 3 FIXNUMs: major, minor and patch number (db_version).
(BDB:ENV-CREATE &KEY :PASSWORD :ENCRYPT :HOST :CLIENT-TIMEOUT :SERVER-TIMEOUT)
Create an environment handle (db_env_create), possibly connecting to a remote host (DB_ENV->set_rpc_server) and possibly using encryption with password (DB_ENV->set_encrypt).
(BDB:ENV-CLOSE dbe)
Close an environment (DB_ENV->close).
(BDB:DBREMOVE dbe file database &KEY :TRANSACTION :AUTO-COMMIT)
Remove a database (DB_ENV->dbremove).
(BDB:DBREMOVE dbe file database newname &KEY :TRANSACTION :AUTO-COMMIT)
Rename a database (DB_ENV->dbrename).
(BDB:ENV-OPEN dbe &KEY :HOME :JOIN :INIT-CDB :INIT-LOCK :INIT-LOG :INIT-MPOOL :INIT-TXN :RECOVER :RECOVER-FATAL :USE-ENVIRON :USE-ENVIRON-ROOT :CREATE :LOCKDOWN :PRIVATE :SYSTEM-MEM :THREAD :MODE)
Open an environment (DB_ENV->open).
(BDB:ENV-REMOVE dbe &KEY :HOME :FORCE :USE-ENVIRON :USE-ENVIRON-ROOT)
Destroy an environment (DB_ENV->remove).
30.2.6.3.2. Environment Configuration
(BDB:ENV-SET-OPTIONS dbe &KEY :DATA-DIR :TMP-DIR :AUTO-COMMIT :CDB-ALLDB :DIRECT-DB :DIRECT-LOG :NOLOCKING :NOMMAP :NOPANIC :OVERWRITE :PANIC-ENVIRONMENT :REGION-INIT :TXN-NOSYNC :TXN-WRITE-NOSYNC :YIELDCPU :VERB-CHKPOINT :VERB-DEADLOCK :VERB-RECOVERY :VERB-REPLICATION :VERB-WAITSFOR :VERBOSE)
Set some environment options using DB_ENV->set_flags, DB_ENV->set_verbose, DB_ENV->set_tmp_dir and DB_ENV->set_data_dir.
30.2.6.3.3. Database Operations
(BDB:DB-CREATE dbe &KEY :XA)
Create a database handle (db_create).
(BDB:DB-CLOSE dbe &KEY :NOSYNC)
Close a database (DB->close).
(BDB:DB-DEL dbe key &KEY :TRANSACTION :AUTO-COMMIT)
Delete items from a database (DB->del).
(BDB:DB-FD db)
Return a file descriptor from a database (DB->fd).
(BDB:DB-GET db key &KEY :CONSUME :CONSUME-WAIT :DIRTY-READ :RMW :TRANSACTION)
Get items from a database (DB->get).
(BDB:DB-PUT db key val &KEY :APPEND :NODUPDATA :NOOVERWRITE :AUTO-COMMIT :TRANSACTION)
Store items into a database (DB->put).
(BDB:DB-STAT db &KEY :FAST-STAT)
Return database statistics (DB->get_byteswapped, DB->get_type, DB->stat).
(BDB:DB-OPEN db file &KEY :DATABASE :TYPE :MODE :CREATE :DIRTY-READ :EXCL :NOMMAP :RDONLY :THREAD :TRUNCATE :AUTO-COMMIT :TRANSACTION)
Open a database (DB->open).
(BDB:DB-SYNC db)
Flush a database to stable storage (DB->sync).
(BDB:DB-TRUNCATE db &KEY :TRANSACTION :AUTO-COMMIT)
Empty a database (DB->truncate).
(BDB:DB-UPGRADE, db file &KEY :DUPSORT)
Upgrade a database (DB->upgrade).
(BDB:DB-RENAME db file database newname)
Rename a database (DB->rename).
(BDB:DB-REMOVE db file database)
Remove a database (DB->remove).
30.2.6.3.4. Database Configuration
()
30.2.6.3.5. Btree/Recno Configuration
()
30.2.6.3.6. Hash/Queue Configuration
()
30.2.6.3.7. Database Cursor Operations
()
30.2.6.3.8. Lock Subsystem
()
30.2.6.3.9. Log Subsystem
()
30.2.6.3.10. Log Cursor Operations
()
30.2.6.3.11. Log Sequence Numbers
()
30.2.6.3.12. Memory Pool Subsystem
()
30.2.6.3.13. Transaction Subsystem
(BDB:TXN-BEGIN dbe &KEY :PARENT :DIRTY-READ :NOSYNC :NOWAIT :SYNC)
Begin a transaction (DB_ENV->txn_begin).
(BDB:TXN-ABORT txn)
Abort a transaction (DB_TXN->abort).
(BDB:TXN-COMMIT txn &KEY :NOSYNC :SYNC)
Commit a transaction (DB_TXN->commit).
(BDB:TXN-DISCARD txn)
Discard a transaction (DB_TXN->discard).
30.2.6.3.14. Replication
()

30.2.6.4. CLISP REGEXP module

The REGEXP module implements the POSIX regular expressions by calling the standard C system facilities. The syntax of these regular expressions is described in many places, such as your local regex.h manual and Emacs info pages.

When this module is present, *FEATURES* contains the symbol :REGEXP.

API

(REGEXP:MATCH pattern string &KEY (:START 0) :END :EXTENDED :IGNORE-CASE :NEWLINE :NOSUB :NOTBOL :NOTEOL)

This macro returns as first value a REGEXP:MATCH structure containing the indices of the start and end of the first match for the regular expression pattern in string; or NIL if there is no match. Additionally, a REGEXP:MATCH structure is returned for every matched "\(...\)" group in pattern, in the order that the open parentheses appear in pattern. If start is non-NIL, the search starts at that index in string. If end is non-NIL, only (SUBSEQ string start end) is considered.

Example 30.1. REGEXP:MATCH

    (REGEXP:MATCH "quick" "The quick brown fox jumped quickly.")
     #S(REGEXP:MATCH :START 4 :END 9)
    (REGEXP:MATCH "quick" "The quick brown fox jumped quickly." :start 8)
     #S(REGEXP:MATCH :START 27 :END 32)
    (REGEXP:MATCH "quick" "The quick brown fox jumped quickly." :start 8 :end 30)
     NIL
    (REGEXP:MATCH "\\([a-z]*\\)[0-9]*\\(bar\\)" "foo12bar")
     #S(REGEXP:MATCH :START 0 :END 8) ;
     #S(REGEXP:MATCH :START 0 :END 3) ;
     #S(REGEXP:MATCH :START 5 :END 8)
  

(REGEXP:MATCH-START match)
(REGEXP:MATCH-END match)
Return the start and end the match; SETF-able.
(REGEXP:MATCH-STRING string match)
Extracts the substring of string corresponding to the given pair of start and end indices of match. The result is shared with string. If you want a freshly consed STRING, use COPY-SEQ or (COERCE (REGEXP:MATCH-STRING ...) 'SIMPLE-STRING).
(REGEXP:REGEXP-QUOTE string &OPTIONAL extended)

This function returns a regular expression STRING that matches exactly string and nothing else. This allows you to request an exact string match when calling a function that wants a regular expression.

Example 30.2. REGEXP:REGEXP-QUOTE

    (regexp-quote "^The cat$")
     "\\^The cat\\$"
   

One use of REGEXP:REGEXP-QUOTE is to combine an exact string match with context described as a regular expression. When extended is non-NIL, also quote #\+ and #\?.

(REGEXP:REGEXP-COMPILE string &KEY :EXTENDED :IGNORE-CASE :NEWLINE :NOSUB)
Compile the regular expression string into an object suitable for REGEXP:REGEXP-EXEC.
(REGEXP:REGEXP-EXEC pattern string &KEY (:START 0) :END :NOTBOL :NOTEOL)

Execute the pattern, which must be a compiled regular expression returned by REGEXP:REGEXP-COMPILE, against the appropriate portion of the string.

Negative end means (+ (LENGTH string) end)

Returns REGEXP:MATCH structures as multiple values (one for each subexpression which successfully matched and one for the whole pattern), unless :BOOLEAN was non-NIL, in which case return T as an indicator of success, but do not allocate anything.

(REGEXP:REGEXP-SPLIT pattern string &KEY (:START 0) :END :EXTENDED :IGNORE-CASE :NEWLINE :NOSUB :NOTBOL :NOTEOL)
Return a list of substrings of string (all sharing the structure with string) separated by pattern (a regular expression STRING or a return value of REGEXP:REGEXP-COMPILE)
(REGEXP:WITH-LOOP-SPLIT (variable stream pattern &KEY (:START 0) :END :EXTENDED :IGNORE-CASE :NEWLINE :NOSUB :NOTBOL :NOTEOL) &BODY body)
Read lines from stream, split them with REGEXP:REGEXP-SPLIT on pattern, and bind the resulting list to variable.
:EXTENDED :IGNORE-CASE :NEWLINE :NOSUB
These options control compilation of a pattern. See regex.h for their meaning.
:NOTBOL :NOTEOL
These options constrol execution of a pattern. See regex.h for their meaning.
REGEXP:REGEXP-MATCHER
A valid value for CUSTOM:*APROPOS-MATCHER*. This will work only when your locale is CHARSET:UTF-8 because CLISP uses CHARSET:UTF-8 internally and POSIX constrains regex.h to use the current locale.
30.2.6.4.1. Example

The following code computes the number of people who use a particular shell:

Example 30.3. shell-count.lisp

#!/usr/local/bin/clisp -C
(DEFPACKAGE "REGEXP-TEST" (:use "LISP" "REGEXP"))
(IN-PACKAGE "REGEXP-TEST")
(let ((h (make-hash-table :test #'equal :size 10)) (n 0))
  (with-open-file (f "/etc/passwd")
    (with-loop-split (s f ":")
      (incf (gethash (seventh s) h 0))))
  (with-hash-table-iterator (i h)
    (loop (multiple-value-bind (r k v) (i)
            (unless r (return))
            (format t "[~d] ~s~30t== ~5:d~%" (incf n) k v)))))

For comparison, the same can be done by the following Perl:

Example 30.4. shell-count.perl

#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w

use diagnostics;
use strict;

my $IN = $ARGV[0];
open(INF,"< $IN") || die "$0: cannot read file [$IN]: $!\n;";
my %hash;
while (<INF>) {
  chop;
  my @all = split($ARGV[1]);
  my $shell = ($#all >= 6 ? $all[6] : "");
  if ($hash{$shell}) { $hash{$shell} ++; }
  else { $hash{$shell} = 1; }
}
my $ii = 0;
for my $kk (keys(%hash)) {
  print "[",++$ii,"] \"",$kk,"\"  --  ",$hash{$kk},"\n";
}
close(INF);

30.2.6.5. Perl Compatible Regular Expressions.

This is an interface to Perl Compatible Regular Expressions.

When this module is present, *FEATURES* contains the symbol :PCRE.

PCRE module API

(PCRE:PCRE-VERSION)
Return version information as 3 values: descriptive STRING and 2 FIXNUMs: major and minor numbers.
(PCRE:PCRE-CONFIG type)
Return some information about the PCRE build configuration (type is one of :UTF8 :NEWLINE :LINK-SIZE :POSIX-MALLOC-THRESHOLD :MATCH-LIMIT).
(PCRE:PCRE-COMPILE string &KEY :STUDY :IGNORE-CASE :MULTILINE :DOTALL :EXTENDED :ANCHORED :DOLLAR-ENDONLY :EXTRA :NOTBOL :NOTEOL :UNGREADY :NOTEMPTY :NO-AUTO-CAPTURE)
Compile a pattern, optionally study it.
(PCRE:PATTERN-INFO pattern request)
Return some information about the pattern, such as :OPTIONS :SIZE :CAPTURECOUNT :BACKREFMAX :FIRSTBYTE :FIRSTTABLE :LASTLITERAL :NAMEENTRYSIZE :NAMECOUNT :NAMETABLE :STUDYSIZE.
(PCRE:PCRE-NAME-TO-INDEX pattern name)
Convert the name of the sub-pattern to an index in the return vector.
(PCRE:PCRE-EXEC pattern string &KEY :BOOLEAN :OFFSET :ANCHORED :NOTBOL :NOTEOL :NOTEMPTY)
Execute the compiled pattern against the string at the given offset with the given options. Returns NIL if no matches or a VECTOR of LENGTH CAPTURECOUNT+1 of PCRE:MATCH structures, unless :BOOLEAN was non-NIL, in which case return T as an indicator of success, but do not allocate anything.
(PCRE:MATCH-START match)
(PCRE:MATCH-END match)
Return the start and end of the match. SETF-able.
(PCRE:MATCH-SUBSTRING match string)
Return the substring of string bounded by match.
(PCRE:MATCH-STRINGS return-vector string)
Return all substrings for all matches found by PCRE:PCRE-EXEC.
(PCRE:MATCH-STRING return-vector which string &OPTIONAL pattern)
Return the substring that matches the given sub-pattern. If which is a name of the sub-pattern (as opposed to its number), pattern must be supplied.
(PCRE:PCRE-MATCHER pattern)
A valid value for CUSTOM:*APROPOS-MATCHER*.

30.2.6.6. System Calls

The POSIX module makes some system calls available from lisp. Not all of these system calls are actually POSIX, so this package has a nickname OS.

When this module is present, *FEATURES* contains the symbol :SYSCALLS.

(POSIX:RESOLVE-HOST-IPADDR &OPTIONAL host)
Returns the HOSTENT structure (name, list of aliases, list of IP addresses as dotted quads (for IPv4) or coloned octets (for IPv6), address type - IPv4 or IPv6). When host is omitted or :DEFAULT, return the data for the current host. When host is given and is NIL, all the host database is returned as a list (this would be the contents of the /etc/hosts file on a UNIX system or ${windir}/system32/etc/hosts on a Win32 system). This is an interface to gethostbyname/gethostbyaddr.
(POSIX:FILE-STAT pathname &OPTIONAL link-p)

Return the FILE-STAT structure. pathname can be a STREAM, a PATHNAME, a STRING or a NUMBER (on a UNIX system, meaning file descriptor). The first slot of the structure returned is the string or the number on which stat/fstat/lstat was called. The other slots are numbers, members of the struct stat:

dev
Device ID of device containing file.
ino
File serial number.
mode
Mode of file.
nlink
Number of hard links to the file.
uid
User ID of file.
gid
Group ID of file.
rdev
Device ID (if file is character or block special).
size
For regular files, the file size in bytes. For symbolic links, the length in bytes of the pathname contained in the symbolic link. For a shared memory object, the length in bytes. For a typed memory object, the length in bytes. For other file types, the use of this field is unspecified.
atime
Time of last access (as the number of seconds since 1900-01-01).
mtime
Time of last data modification (as the number of seconds since 1900-01-01).
ctime
Time of last status change (as the number of seconds since 1900-01-01).
blksize
A file system-specific preferred I/O block size for this object. In some file system types, this may vary from file to file.
blocks
Number of blocks allocated for this object.

All slots are read-only.

If the system does not support a particular field (e.g., Win32 prior to 2000 does not have hard links), NIL (or the default, like 1 for the number of hard links for old Win32) is returned.

[UNIX systems only at this time, patches are welcome.]

(POSIX:STAT-VFS pathname)

Return the STAT-VFS structure. pathname can be a STREAM, a PATHNAME, a STRING or a NUMBER (on a UNIX system, meaning file descriptor). The first slot of the structure returned is the string or the number on which statvfs/fstatvfs was called. The other slots are members of the struct statvfs:

bsize
File system block size.
frsize
Fundamental file system block size.
blocks
Total number of blocks on file system in units of frsize.
bfree
Total number of free blocks.
bavail
Number of free blocks available to non-privileged processes.
files
Total number of file serial numbers.
ffree
Total number of free file serial numbers.
favail
Number of file serial numbers available to non-privileged processes.
fsid
File system ID.
flag
List of platform-dependent values, such as :READ-ONLY.
namemax
Maximum filename length.

All slots are read-only.

[UNIX systems only at this time, patches are welcome.]

(OS:FILE-INFO pathname)

Return the FILE-INFO structure. pathname should be a pathname designator. The 8 slots are attributes, ctime, atime, wtime, high and low sizes, name and short name.

[Win32 systems only at this time, patches are welcome.]

(POSIX:USER-DATA &OPTIONAL user)

Return the PASSWD structure (name, encoded password, UID, GID, full name, home directory, shell). When user is NIL, return all users. When user is :DEFAULT or not supplied, return the information about the current user. If the system does not support a particular field (e.g., Win32 does not have a concept of a shell), NIL (or the default, like c:\command.com for DOS) is returned.

[UNIX systems only at this time, patches are welcome.]

(POSIX:UNAME)
Return a structure describing the OS, derived from uname.
(POSIX:SYSCONF)
(POSIX:CONFSTR)
Return a structure describing the system configuration, derived from sysconf and confstr respectively.
(POSIX:LIMITS)
Return a structure describing the resource limits, derived from getrlimit.
(POSIX:USAGE)
Return 2 structures describing the resource usage by the lisp process and its children, derived from getrusage.
(POSIX:ERF real)
(POSIX:ERFC real)
(POSIX:J0 real)
(POSIX:J1 real)
(POSIX:JN integer real)
(POSIX:Y0 real)
(POSIX:Y1 real)
(POSIX:YN integer real)
(POSIX:GAMMA real)
(POSIX:LGAMMA real)
Compute the error functions, Bessel functions and Gamma. These functions are required by the POSIX standard and should be available in libm.so. Please note that these functions do not provide lisp-style error handling and precision, and do all the computations at the double float level.
(POSIX:STREAM-LOCK stream lock-p &KEY (:BLOCK T) (:SHARED NIL) (:START 0) (:END NIL))
This is an interface to the fcntl system call. It sets or removes a file lock for the (portion of the) file associated with stream, depending on lock-p. When block is NIL, the call is non-blocking, and when the file is already locked, it SIGNALs an ERROR. When shared is non-NIL, then lock can be shared between several callers. Several processes can set a shared (i.e., read) lock, but only one can set an exclusive (i.e., write, or non-shared) lock.
(POSIX:COPY-FILE source-path destination-path &KEY :METHOD :PRESERVE :IF-EXISTS :IF-DOES-NOT-EXIST)

This is an interface to the symlink (when method is :SYMLINK), link (when it is :HARDLINK), and rename (when it is :RENAME) system calls, as well as, you guessed it, a generic file copy utility (when method is :COPY).

Both source-path and destination-path may be wild.

(POSIX:DUPLICATE-HANDLE fd1 &OPTIONAL fd2)
This is an interface to the dup/dup2 system calls on UNIX systems and to DuplicateHandle system call on Win32.
(OS:SHORTCUT-INFO pathname)
Return information about a Win32 shortcut (#P".lnk") file contents in a SHORTCUT-INFO structure.
(OS:MAKE-SHORTCUT pathname &KEY :WORKING-DIRECTORY :ARGUMENTS :SHOW-COMMAND :ICON :DESCRIPTION :HOT-KEY :PATH)
Create (or modify the properties of an existing one) a Win32 shortcut (#P".lnk") file.
(OS:SYSTEM-INFO)
Return Win32 system information in a SYSTEM-INFO structure.
(OS:VERSION)
Return Win32 version information in a VERSION structure.

30.2.6.7. Oracle Interface

The Oracle module allows a CLISP program to act as client to an Oracle database server. The module includes full SQL support, transactions (including auto-commit), support for most Oracle data types (LONG, BLOB, CLOB, RAW, etc.), automatic conversion between Oracle and Common Lisp data types, database connection caching and retry, concurrent connections to multiple databases, proper handling of Oracle errors, and more.

The module can be used to build sophisticated Oracle database applications in Common Lisp.

When this module is present, *FEATURES* contains the symbol :ORACLE.

30.2.6.7.1. Functions and Macros in package ORACLE

Access to Oracle is via these functions and macros in package ORACLE. When any Oracle function fails, the general Lisp function ERROR is called, with the condition string set to include the Oracle error number, the Oracle message text, and other context of the error (e.g., the text and parse location of a SQL query).

(ORACLE:CONNECT user password server &OPTIONAL schema auto-commit prefetch-buffer-bytes long-len truncate-ok)

Connect to an Oracle database. All subsequent operations will affect this database until the next call to CONNECT. A single program can access different Oracle schemas concurrently by repeated calls to CONNECT. Database connections are cached and re-used: if you call CONNECT again with the same user, schema, and server, the previous Oracle connection will be re-used. CONNECT may not be called inside WITH-TRANSACTION. Returns: T if a cached connection was re-used, NIL if a new connection was created (and cached). The meaning of the arguments is as follows:

Arguments for CONNECT

user
Oracle user ID
password
Password for user, or NIL if user has no password (!).
server
Oracle server ID (SID).
schema
Oracle default schema (default: NIL). If NIL, same as user. This allows you to log on with one user's id/password but see the database as if you were some other user.
auto-commit
Flag: whether to commit after every operation (default: T). Set this to NIL if you intend to do transactions and call COMMIT explicitly. However, WITH-TRANSACTION is probably easier.
prefetch-buffer-bytes
Number of bytes to cache from SQL SELECT fetches (default: 64 Kbytes) If you are very short of memory, or have a slow connection to Oracle, you can reduce this to 10k or so. Alternatively, if you have a fast connection to Oracle and regularly do large queries, you can increase throughput by increasing this value.
long-len
Number of bytes to fetch for "long" (LONG, [BC]LOB) types. Long data that exceeds this size will raise an error, or be truncated depending on the value of truncate-ok (below). Setting long-len to zero and truncate-ok to NIL will disable long fetching entirely. If long-len is NIL or negative, defaults to 500k bytes.
truncate-ok
Flag: if set, allow truncation of LONG columns to long-len bytes on fetch; otherwise, fetches of LONG columns exceeding long-len bytes will raise an error. Default: NIL.
(ORACLE:DISCONNECT)
Disconnect from the database currently connected. No more calls can be made until CONNECT is called again. The connection is closed and removed from the connection cache. Does nothing if there is no connection. DISCONNECT may not be called inside WITH-TRANSACTION. Returns NIL.
(ORACLE:RUN-SQL sql &OPTIONAL params is-select)

Execute a SQL statement. Must be CONNECTed to a database. Returns the number of rows affected by the SQL operation, for non-SELECT statements, zero for SELECT statements. For destructive database operations (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE), the results are committed to the database immediately if auto-commit when establishing the current connection; see CONNECT. The meaning of the arguments is as follows:

Arguments for RUN-SQL

sql
Text of SQL statement, as a string. The sql statement may contain Oracle "named parameters," e.g. ":myparam" whose values will be substituted from the parameters given in params.
params
A mapping of the names of the bind-parameters in the query to their values. The set of named parameters in the query must match exactly the keys mapped by params. The mapping may be passed as either (1) a hash table whose keys are the named parameters or (2) a list of pairs, ((name value) (name value) ...). Parameter values passed from Lisp are converted to the appropriate Oracle data types (see FETCH).
is-select
Flag: whether the statement is a SELECT query. You usually do not need to set this as it is detected by default based on the SQL text. However, there are situations, such as when a SELECT query begins with comment, that you need to specify it explicitly.
(ORACLE:DO-ROWS vars &BODY body)

Macro which loops over a SQL SELECT result, evaluating, for each row in the result, the forms in body, binding symbols given in vars to corresponding database columns in the SELECT result. The argument vars must be a non-empty list of symbols matching a subset of the columns of an active SELECT query. If a SELECT column is an Oracle expression such as SUBSTR(mycol, 1, 10), it is recommended to use a column alias, e.g., SELECT SUBSTR(mycol, 1, 10) AS myvar, in which case the column alias will be used as the symbol bound to the column value.

As DO-ROWS expands into a DO* loop, it may be terminated prematurely, before all rows are fetched, by using RETURN anywhere in body.

It is allowed to call CONNECT in the body of the loop, but only to switch the connection to a database other than the one that was used to do the SELECT. This is useful for reading from one database while writing to another.

In vars, instead of a single symbol, a pair (bound-var "column-name") may be specified, which will cause values from the SELECTed column or alias , column-name, to be bound to Lisp variable, bound-var. This is for unusual cases where a Lisp variable cannot be created with the same name as the column (e.g., a column named "T"), or when it is inconvenient or impossible to alias the column with SELECT ... AS.

(ORACLE:FETCH &OPTIONAL result-type)

Fetch a single row of data. Returns a row of values corresponding to the columns of an active SELECT statment. The row data is returned in one of three different forms, depending on the value of the symbol result-type:

Return values for FETCH

ARRAY
Values will be returned in an ARRAY with the same number of columns as in the SELECT statement, in the same order. This is the default.
PAIRS
A list of pairs, ((column, value) ...) is be returned. The number and order of pairs is the same as the columns in the SELECT statement.
HASH
A HASH-TABLE whose keys are the column names and whose values are the column values in the row. The SELECT columns must be unique and be valid Lisp symbols to use this option. If you are SELECTing an expression, you probably want to use a column alias: SELECT <expr> AS some_alias ...

The following data type conversions are done between Oracle datatypes and Common Lisp data types:

Oracle typeConverts to/from Common Lisp type
Numeric (NUMBER, INTEGER, FLOAT)The appropriate Common Lisp numeric type (FIXNUM, BIGNUM, FLOAT)
String (CHAR, VARCHAR, VARCHAR2)A Common LispSTRING. Note that CHAR will be padded out to its full, fixed length as defined in Oracle; VARCHAR will be a string of variable length. Also note that Oracle has no "zero-length string" value - it returns the SQL special value NULL which is converted to NIL (see below).
DATEA string of the form "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS" where HH is 24-hour form. If you want dates formatted differently, convert them to strings in Oracle using SELECT TO_CHAR(mydate, 'template') AS mydate; the result will then be returned as a string, formatted as per template.
RAW, LONG RAWA hexadecimal string, with two hex digits for each byte of Oracle data. Note that this means the Lisp string will be twice the size, in bytes, as the Oracle data.
"Large" types (LONG, BLOB, CLOB)A Lisp string of (arbitrary, possibly binary) data. Note that truncation may occur; see the CONNECT parameters long-len and truncate-ok.
NULLThe Common Lisp value NIL

(ORACLE:FETCH-ALL &OPTIONAL max-rows result-type item-type)

Fetch some or all the rows from a query and return result as a sequence of sequences. Arguments are all optional: max-rows limits the result to that numbers of rows; result-type is the type of sequence of the rows, either 'ARRAY (the default) or 'LIST; item-type is the type of sequence of the column values for each row, either 'ARRAY (the default) or 'LIST. Each row fetched always contains the full set of column values SELECTed.

FETCH-ALL is often useful in conjunction with MAP or REDUCE to iterate over an entire SELECT result to construct a single Lisp value.

(ORACLE:PEEK &OPTIONAL result-type)
Peek at next row of data (without fetching it). Returns a row ala FETCH, except does not advance to the next row. Repeated calls to PEEK will thus return the same row of data. Returns NIL if at EOF. If data is available, returns row data just as FETCH (see FETCH for data format and conversions done). Optional argument result-type is the type of sequence of the column values for the returned row, either 'ARRAY (the default) or 'LIST. PEEK is a useful look-ahead for database reporting functions that may need to "break" on changes in data to print headers, summaries, etc.
(ORACLE:COLUMNS)

Returns information on the columns of a SELECT result, in the form of an array of SQLCOL structures, one for each result column in the most recent SELECT statement. It is not necessary to have called FETCH before requesting column information on the query, however the query must have been compiled and executed with RUN-SQL. Each SQLCOL structure has these slots:

Slots of SQLCOL

NAME
The Oracle column name or the expression selected. If the query used a column alias, SELECT expr AS alias, then alias will be returned as the column name.
TYPE
Oracle data type (VARCHAR, NUMBER, DATE, ...)
SIZE
Oracle data length (useful mostly for character types)
SCALE
For numeric types, number of digits to right of decimal
PRECISION
For numeric types, total number of significant digits
NULL_OK
T if NULLs allowed, NIL if NULLs are not allowed.

To access the values of the SQLCOL structures, use the standard accessor functions, e.g., (ORACLE:SQLCOL-NAME (elt (ORACLE:COLUMNS) 0))

(ORACLE:EOF)
Returns EOF status. A SELECT query cursor is considered at EOF if the next FETCH would return no data. Must be connected to a database, and have an active SELECT statement.
(ORACLE:INSERT-ROW table values)
Inserts a single row into table. Second argument values is a map of column names to values: either a hash table whose keys are the column names, or a list of (name, value) pairs. Columns missing from the map will be given the default Oracle value, or NULL. Returns the number of rows inserted (i.e., always 1).
(ORACLE:UPDATE-ROW table condition vals &OPTIONAL params)
Updates rows in table. Second argument condition is a string expression for a WHERE clause (without the "WHERE") which determines which rows are updated. Third argument vals is a map of columns to be updated to their new values: a hash table whose keys are column names, or list of (name, value) pairs. Optional params specifies values for named parameters that may occur in condition, e.g., when the condition is a match on a primary key, e.g.: "pk_column = :pk_val". Returns the number of rows updated.
(ORACLE:ROW-COUNT)
For SELECT statements, returns the number of rows FETCHed (not PEEKed) so far. For other statements (e.g., INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE), returns the number of rows affected by the last operation (e.g., inserted, updated, deleted). Must be connected to a database and have an active SQL statement.
(ORACLE:WITH-TRANSACTION &BODY body)
Evaluates the forms in body atomically as a database transaction, ensuring that either all the database operations done in body complete successfully, or none of them do. If pending (un-committed) changes exist when this macro is entered, they are rolled back (undone), so that the database is affected only by the subsequent updates inside body. Nesting of WITH-TRANSACTION blocks is not allowed and will raise an error. There is no effect on the status of auto-commit given in CONNECT; it resumes its previous state when the macro exits. The value of the WITH-TRANSACTION expression is that of the last form in body.
(ORACLE:COMMIT)
Commits (makes permanent) any pending changes to the database. The auto-commit parameter to CONNECT must not have been set to use this function, nor can it be called inside a WITH-TRANSACTION block. Always returns NIL.
(ORACLE:ROLLBACK)
Rolls back (undoes and abandons) any pending changes to the database. The auto-commit parameter to CONNECT must not have been set to use this function, nor can it be called inside a WITH-TRANSACTION block. Always returns NIL.
(ORACLE:AUTO-COMMIT)
Toggles the state of auto-commit initially given to CONNECT for the current connection. With auto-commit enabled, modifications to the database are committed (made permanent) after each destructive SQL operation made with calls to RUN-SQL, INSERT-ROW, UPDATE_ROW, etc. With auto-commit disabled, transactional integrity is under the programmer's control and is managed either by (1) explicitly calling COMMIT or ROLLBACK to commit or undo the pending operations, or (2) wrapping code blocks with database operations inside the WITH-TRANSACTION macro. AUTO-COMMIT returns the previous status of auto-commit. AUTO-COMMIT may not be called inside WITH-TRANSACTION.
30.2.6.7.2. Oracle Example

Below is a simple example script which uses Oracle's demo database schema, SCOTT.

(setf server "orcl") ; Change this to your server's SID
(oracle:connect "scott" "tiger" server)

(oracle:run-sql "SELECT deptno, dname, loc FROM dept ORDER BY DNAME")
(oracle:do-rows (deptno dname loc)
  (format t "Dept. no is '~A', " deptno)
  (format t "Dept. name is '~A', " dname)
  (format t "Dept. loc is '~A'~%" loc))

(oracle:update-row "dept" "dname = :acctval" '(("dname" "NEWACCT")) '(("acctval" "ACCOUNTING")))

(oracle:run-sql "SELECT deptno, dname, loc FROM dept ORDER BY DNAME")
(oracle:do-rows (deptno dname loc)
  (format t "Dept. no is '~A', " deptno)
  (format t "Dept. name is '~A', " dname)
  (format t "Dept. loc is '~A'~%" loc))

(oracle:update-row "dept" "dname = :acctval" '(("dname" "ACCOUNTING")) '(("acctval" "NEWACCT")))

30.2.6.7.3. Oracle Configuration

Obviously, a working Oracle environment is required. It is recommended that you first be able to log on and use the Oracle SQL*Plus application to test your environment before attempting Oracle access via the CLISP module. At a minimum you will need to set environment variables ORACLE_HOME to the Oracle base directory and LD_LIBRARY_PATH to include $ORACLE_HOME/lib and possibly other directories.

30.2.6.7.4. Building the Oracle Interface

The module uses the Oracle Call Interface (OCI) C library. To build the module you will need the Oracle OCI headers and link libraries; as a quick check, make sure you have the file oci.h somewhere under ORACLE_HOME, probably in $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/demo/oci.h.

To build the module into CLISP, specify ./configure ... --with-module=oracle ... at build time. Thereafter, to load the CLISP linking set which contains the module, you need to run CLISP with the option -K full. You can test that you really have the Oracle-enabled CLISP by evaluating (DESCRIBE 'oracle:connect) It may be necessary to edit the Makefile in the modules/oracle subdirectory of the distribution prior to running ./configure.

30.2.6.8. The FastCGI Interface

The FastCGI module speeds up CLISP CGI scripts launched by a Web server. Working with a FastCGI-enabled Web server such as Apache with mod_fastcgi, a CLISP program using the FastCGI protocol will run many times faster than a conventional CGI program. The performance improvements stem from the fact that the script's process remains running across HTTP requests, eliminating startup overhead and allowing for caching of data structures and other resources. This is the same approach used is in other languages (e.g., mod_perl for Perl).

When this module is present, *FEATURES* contains the symbol :FASTCGI.

30.2.6.8.1. Overview of FastCGI

Traditional CGI programs work by doing input/output with the Web server via the following channels:

  1. Examining environment variables; e.g., HTTP_USER_AGENT is the variable set by the Web server to name the browser used
  2. Reading from standard input. E.g., to get input data in a "method=POST" request
  3. Writing an HTTP response document (usually "Content-type: text/html") to the standard output, for eventual transmission back to the browser client
  4. Writing error messages to the standard error, usually captured by the Web server and logged in its log files.

FastCGI involves replacing calls the standard routines to do the above with calls in the FASTCGI package. These calls will then work exactly as before when the program is invoked as a CGI, but will also work when invoked by a FastCGI-enabled Web server.

FastCGI programs persist across HTTP requests, and thus incur startup overhead costs only once. For Lisp Web programs, this overhead can be substantial: code must be compiled and loaded, files and databases must be opened, etc. Further, because the program stays running from HTTP request to HTTP request, it can cache information in memory such as database connections or large in-memory data structures.

30.2.6.8.2. Functions in Package FASTCGI

Access to FastCGI is via these functions in package FASTCGI.

(FASTCGI:IS-CGI)
Returns T if the CLISP program has been launched as a traditional CGI rather than in FastCGI. In traditional CGI, program I/O is via operating system environment variables and standard file streams. Under FastCGI, I/O is done directly with the Web server via the FastCGI protocol.
(FASTCGI:ACCEPT) cgi-forms (FASTCGI:FINISH)

In FastCGI mode, the program loops, ACCEPTing to begin the execution of an HTTP request, and FINISHing to signal that the script is finished writing its response to the HTTP request. ACCEPT blocks until the next HTTP request comes in, returning T if there is a new request to handle, and NIL if no more HTTP requests will occur, usually because the Web server itself has terminated, in which case the FastCGI server loop should also exit.

A typical FastCGI top-level server loop looks like:

    (do ()
	((not (fastcgi:accept)))
	(run-my-script)
        (fastcgi:finish))

(FASTCGI:GETENV varname)
Use in place of EXT:GETENV to get the value of the environment variable named varname, which should be a string. Unlike EXT:GETENV, which accesses the actual host operating system environment, FASTCGI:GETENV obtains its environment via the Web server, over its FastCGI communications channel. For more information, see the FastCGI Web site. Returns NIL if varname is not defined in the operating system environment. See here for a list of useful variables. You must first have called ACCEPT and not yet have called FINISH.
(FASTCGI:WRITE-STDOUT string)
Use in place of standard Lisp calls which print to standard output (i.e., as part of the HTTP response). You must first have called ACCEPT and not yet have called FINISH.
(FASTCGI:WRITE-STDERR string)
Use in place of standard Lisp calls which print to standard error. Rather than being part of the HTTP response, data written to standard error are usually collected by the Web server in its error log. This is useful for diagnostic purposes.
(FASTCGI:SLURP-STDIN)
Reads in the entirety of standard input and returns it as a string. This is usually done for HTTP requests with METHOD="post", when the data are passed to the CGI script via standard input rather than via the environment variable QUERY_STRING. There is no way to read standard input in pieces, which could be a problem, say, for HTTP uploads of very large files.
(FASTCGI:OUT tree)
Like WRITE-STDOUT, except that tree may be an arbitrarily nested list structure containing (at the leaves) numbers and strings. For example, (FASTCGI:OUT '("foo" (" " 10 " " 20))) will write the string "foo 10 20". This function is useful when building strings in memory for display.

30.2.6.8.3. FastCGI Example

Below is a simple example CGI script using FastCGI.

#!/usr/local/bin/clisp -q -K full

(defun newline () (format nil "~%"))
(do ((count 1 (1+ count)))
	((not (fastcgi:accept)) nil)

    (fastcgi:out "Content-type: text/plain" (newline) (newline))
    (fastcgi:out
     "I am running in mode: " (if (fastcgi:is-cgi) "CGI" "FastCGI") (newline)
     "This is execution no.: " count (newline)
     "The browser string is '" (fastcgi:getenv "HTTP_USER_AGENT") "'" (newline))

    (fastcgi:finish))

30.2.6.8.4. Building and configuring the FastCGI Interface

It is necessary to download the FastCGI developers' kit, build it, and install it, before building CLISP with FastCGI support. You also need to upgrade your Web server to speak the FastCGI protocol. For Apache this means building in mod_fastcgi, either statically or dynamically, and then adding a line to your Apache config like:

    Addhandler fastcgi-script .fcgi

After that, you can convert foo.cgi by linking it to a script names foo.fcgi. Since a FastCGI script is also a valid CGI script, it can be run unmodified in either mode.

30.3. Extensions-2.3. The Foreign Function Call Facility

Platform dependent: many UNIX, Win32 platforms only.

A foreign function description is written as a Lisp file, and when compiled it produces a #P".c" file which is then compiled by the C compiler and may be linked together with lisp.a.

All symbols relating to the foreign function interface are exported from the package FFI. To use them, (USE-PACKAGE "FFI").

Special FFI forms may appear anywhere in the Lisp file.

30.3.1. Overview

These are the special FFI forms. We have taken a pragmatic approach: the only foreign languages we support for now are C and ANSI C.

special FFI forms; name is any Lisp SYMBOL; c-name is a STRING.

(FFI:DEF-C-TYPE name c-type)
This form makes name a shortcut for c-type. Note that c-type may already refer to name. Forward declarations of types are not possible, however.
(FFI:DEF-C-VAR name {option}*)

This form defines a FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE. name is the Lisp name, a regular Lisp SYMBOL.

Options for FFI:DEF-C-VAR

(:NAME c-name)
specifies the name as seen from C, as a string. If not specified, it is derived from the print name of the Lisp name.
(:TYPE c-type)
specifies the variable's foreign type.
(:READ-ONLY BOOLEAN)
If this option is specified and non-NIL, it will be impossible to change the variable's value from within Lisp (using SETQ or similar).
(:ALLOC ALLOCATION)
This option can be either :NONE or :MALLOC-FREE and defaults to :NONE. If it is :MALLOC-FREE, any values of type FFI:C-STRING, FFI:C-PTR, FFI:C-PTR-NULL, FFI:C-ARRAY-PTR within the foreign value are assumed to be pointers to malloc-allocated storage, and when SETQ replaces an old value by a new one, the old storage is freed using free and the new storage allocated using malloc. If it is :NONE, SETQ assumes that the pointers point to good storage (not NULL!) and overwrites the old values by the new ones. This is dangerous (just think of overwriting a string with a longer one or storing some data in a NULL pointer...) and deprecated.
(:LIBRARY STRING)
Specifies the (optional) dynamic library which contains the variable.
(FFI:DEF-CALL-OUT name {option}*)

This form defines a named call-out function (a foreign function called from Lisp: control flow temporarily leaves Lisp).

Options for FFI:DEF-CALL-OUT

(:NAME c-name)
Any Lisp function call to #'name is redirected to call the C function c-name.
(:ARGUMENTS {(argument c-type [PARAM-MODE [ALLOCATION]])}*)
(:RETURN-TYPE c-type [ALLOCATION])
Argument list and return value, see Section 30.3.7, “Argument and result passing conventions” and Section 30.3.8, “Parameter Mode”.
(:LANGUAGE language)
See Section 30.3.3, “The choice of the C flavor.”.
(:BUILT-IN BOOLEAN)
When the function is a C built-in, the full prototype will be output (unless suppressed by FFI:*OUTPUT-C-FUNCTIONS*).
(:LIBRARY STRING)
Specifies the (optional) dynamic library which contains the variable.
(FFI:DEF-CALL-IN name {option}*)

This form defines a named call-in function (i.e., a Lisp function called from the foreign language: control flow temporary enters Lisp)

Options for FFI:DEF-CALL-IN

(:NAME c-name)
Any C function call to the C function c-name is redirected to call the Common Lisp function #'name.
(:ARGUMENTS {(argument c-type [PARAM-MODE [ALLOCATION]])}*)
(:RETURN-TYPE c-type [ALLOCATION])
Argument list and return value, see Section 30.3.7, “Argument and result passing conventions” and Section 30.3.8, “Parameter Mode”.
(:LANGUAGE language)
See Section 30.3.3, “The choice of the C flavor.”.
(FFI:DEF-C-CALL-OUT name {option}*)
This is equivalent to FFI:DEF-CALL-OUT with :LANGUAGE :STDC. deprecated.
(FFI:DEF-C-CALL-IN name {option}*)
This is equivalent to FFI:DEF-CALL-IN with :LANGUAGE :STDC. deprecated.
(FFI:DEF-C-STRUCT name (symbol c-type)*)

This form defines name to be both a STRUCTURE-CLASS and a foreign C type with the given slots. name is a SYMBOL (structure name) or a LIST whose FIRST element is the structure name and the REST is options. Two options are supported at this time:

Options for FFI:DEF-C-STRUCT

:TYPEDEF
means that the name of this structure is a C type defined with typedef elsewhere.
:EXTERNAL
means that this structure is defined in a #P".c" file that you include with, e.g., (FFI:C-LINES "#include <filename.h>").

These options determine how the struct is written to the #P".c".

(FFI:DEF-C-ENUM name {symbol | (symbol [value])}*)

This form defines symbols as constants, similarly to the C declaration enum { symbol [= value], ... };

You can use (FFI:ENUM-FROM-VALUE name value) and (FFI:ENUM-TO-VALUE name symbol) to convert between the numeric and symbolic representations (of course, the latter function boils down to SYMBOL-VALUE plus a check that the symbol is indeed a constant defined in the FFI:DEF-C-ENUM name).

(FFI:C-LINES format-string {argument}*)
This form outputs the string (FORMAT NIL format-string {argument}*) to the C output file. This is a rarely needed low-level facility.
(FFI:ELEMENT c-place index1 ... indexn)
Array element: If c-place is of foreign type (FFI:C-ARRAY c-type (dim1 ... dimn)) and 0 ≤ index1 < dim1, ..., 0 ≤ indexn < dimn, this will be the place corresponding to (AREF c-place index1 ... indexn) or c-place[index1]...[indexn]. It is a place of type c-type. If c-place is of foreign type (FFI:C-ARRAY-MAX c-type dim) and 0 ≤ index < dim, this will be the place corresponding to (AREF c-place index) or c-place[index]. It is a place of type c-type.
(FFI:DEREF c-place)
Dereference pointer: If c-place is of foreign type (FFI:C-PTR c-type) or (FFI:C-PTR-NULL c-type), this will be the place the pointer points to. It is a place of type c-type. For (FFI:C-PTR-NULL c-type), the c-place may not be NULL.
(FFI:SLOT c-place slot-name)
Struct or union component: If c-place is of foreign type (FFI:C-STRUCT class ... (slot-name c-type) ...) or of type (FFI:C-UNION ... (slot-name c-type) ...), this will be of type c-type.
(FFI:CAST c-place c-type)
Type change: A place denoting the same memory locations as the original c-place, but of type c-type.
(FFI:OFFSET c-place offset c-type)
Type change and displacement: return a place denoting a memory locations displaced from the original c-place by an offset counted in bytes, with type c-type. This can be used to resize an array, e.g. of c-type (FFI:C-ARRAY uint16 n) via (FFI:OFFSET c-place 0 '(FFI:C-ARRAY uint16 k)).
(FFI:C-VAR-ADDRESS c-place)
Return the address of c-place as a Lisp object of type FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS. This is useful as an argument to foreign functions expecting a parameter of C type FFI:C-POINTER.
(FFI:C-VAR-OBJECT c-place)
Return the FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE object underlying the c-place. This is also an acceptable argument type to a FFI:C-POINTER declaration.
(FFI:TYPEOF c-place)
returns the c-type corresponding to the c-place.
(FFI:SIZEOF c-type)
(FFI:SIZEOF c-place)

The first form returns the size and alignment of the C type c-type, measured in bytes.

The second form returns the size and alignment of the C type of c-place, measured in bytes.

(FFI:BITSIZEOF c-type)
(FFI:BITSIZEOF c-place)

The first form returns the size and alignment of the C type c-type, measured in bits.

The second form returns the size and alignment of the C type of c-place, measured in bits.

(FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS-NULL foreign-entity)
This predicate returns T if the foreign-entity refers to the NULL address (and thus foreign-entity should probably not be passed to most foreign functions).
(FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS-UNSIGNED foreign-entity)
(FFI:UNSIGNED-FOREIGN-ADDRESS number)

FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS-UNSIGNED returns the INTEGER address embodied in the Lisp object of type FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS, FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER, FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE or FFI:FOREIGN-FUNCTION.

FFI:UNSIGNED-FOREIGN-ADDRESS returns a FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS object pointing to the given INTEGER address.

(FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS foreign-entity)

FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS is both a type name and a selector/constructor function. It is the Lisp object type corresponding to a FFI:C-POINTER external type declaration, e.g. a call-out function with (:RETURN-TYPE FFI:C-POINTER) yields a Lisp object of type FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS.

The function extracts the object of type FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS living within any FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE or FFI:FOREIGN-FUNCTION object. If the foreign-entity already is a FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS, it returns it. If it is a FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER (e.g. a base foreign library address), it encapsulates it into a FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS object, as suitable for use with a FFI:C-POINTER external type declaration. It does not construct addresses out of NUMBERs, FFI:UNSIGNED-FOREIGN-ADDRESS must be used for that purpose.

(FFI:VALIDP foreign-entity)
(SETF (FFI:VALIDP foreign-entity) value)

This predicate returns NIL if the foreign-entity (e.g. the Lisp equivalent of a FFI:C-POINTER) refers to a pointer which is invalid because it comes from a previous Lisp session. It returns T if foreign-entity can be used within the current Lisp process (thus it returns T for all non-foreign arguments).

You can invalidate a foreign object using (SETF FFI:VALIDP). You cannot resurrect a zombie, nor can you kill a non-foreign object.

(FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER foreign-entity)
(SETF (FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER foreign-entity) foreign-pointer)

FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER returns the FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER associated with the Lisp object of type FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS, FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER, FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE or FFI:FOREIGN-FUNCTION.

(SETF FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER) changes the FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER associated with the Lisp object of type FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS, FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE or FFI:FOREIGN-FUNCTION to that of the other entity. When foreign-pointer is :COPY, a fresh FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER is allocated. foreign-entity still points to the same object. This is particularly useful with (SETF FFI:VALIDP).

(FFI:WITH-FOREIGN-OBJECT (variable c-type [initarg]) body)
(FFI:WITH-C-VAR (variable c-type [initarg]) body)

These forms allocate space on the C execution stack, bind respectively a FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE object or a local SYMBOL-MACRO to variable and execute body.

When initarg is not supplied, they allocate space only for (FFI:SIZEOF c-type) bytes. This space is filled with zeroes. E.g., using a c-type of FFI:C-STRING or even (FFI:C-PTR (FFI:C-ARRAY uint8 32)) (!) both allocate place for a single pointer, initialized to NULL.

When initarg is supplied, they allocate space for an arbitrarily complex set of structures rooted in c-type. Therefore, FFI:C-ARRAY-MAX, #() and "" are your friends for creating a pointer to the empty arrays:

(with-c-var (v '(c-ptr (c-array-max uint8 32)) #())
  (setf (element (deref v) 0) 127) v)

c-type is evaluated, making creation of variable sized buffers easy:

(with-c-var (fv `(c-array uint8 ,(length my-vector)) my-vector)
  (print fv))

(FFI:WITH-FOREIGN-STRING (foreign-address char-count byte-count string &KEY encoding null-terminated-p start end) &BODY body)

This forms converts a Lisp string according to the encoding, allocating space on the C execution stack. encoding can be any EXT:ENCODING, e.g. CHARSET:UTF-16 or CHARSET:UTF-8, circumventing the usual 1:1 limit imposed on CUSTOM:*FOREIGN-ENCODING*.

body is then executed with the three variables foreign-address, char-count and byte-count respectively bound to an untyped FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS (as known from the FFI:C-POINTER foreign type specification) pointing to the stack location, the number of CHARACTERs of the Lisp string that were considered and the number of (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8) bytes that were allocated for it on the C stack.

When null-terminated-p is true, which is the default, a variable number of zero bytes is appended, depending on the encoding, e.g. 2 for CHARSET:UTF-8, and accounted for in byte-count, and char-count is incremented by one.

The FFI:FOREIGN-ADDRESS object bound to foreign-address is invalidated upon the exit from the form.

A stupid example (a quite costly interface to mblen):

(with-foreign-string (fv elems bytes string
                      :encoding charset:jis... :null-terminated-p nil
                      :end 5)
 (declare (ignore fv elems))
 (format t "This string would take ~D bytes." bytes))

(FFI:PARSE-C-TYPE c-type)
(FFI:DEPARSE-C-TYPE c-type-internal)
Convert between the external (LIST) and internal (VECTOR) C type representations (used by DESCRIBE).
(FFI:ALLOCATE-SHALLOW c-type &KEY :COUNT :READ-ONLY)
(FFI:ALLOCATE-DEEP c-type contents &KEY :COUNT :READ-ONLY)
(FFI:FOREIGN-FREE foreign-entity &KEY :FULL)
(FFI:FOREIGN-ALLOCATE c-type-internal &KEY :INITIAL-CONTENTS :COUNT :READ-ONLY)

Macro FFI:ALLOCATE-SHALLOW allocates (FFI:SIZEOF c-type) bytes on the C heap and zeroes them out (like calloc). When :COUNT is supplied, c-type is substituted with (FFI:C-ARRAY c-type count), except when c-type is CHARACTER, in which case (FFI:C-ARRAY-MAX CHARACTER count) is used instead. When :READ-ONLY is supplied, the Lisp side is prevented from modifying the memory contents. This can be used as an indication that some foreign side is going to fill this memory (e.g. via read).

Returns a FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE object of the actual c-type, whose address part points to the newly allocated memory.

FFI:ALLOCATE-DEEP will call C malloc as many times as necessary to build a structure on the C heap of the given c-type, initialized from the given contents.

E.g., (FFI:ALLOCATE-DEEP 'FFI:C-STRING "ABCDE") performs 2 allocations: one for a C pointer to a string, another for the contents of that string. This would be useful in conjunction with a char** C type declaration. (FFI:ALLOCATE-SHALLOW 'FFI:C-STRING) allocates room for a single pointer (probably 4 bytes).

(FFI:ALLOCATE-DEEP 'CHARACTER "ABCDEF" :count 10) allocates and initializes room for the type (FFI:C-ARRAY-MAX CHARACTER 10), corresponding to char* or, more specifically, char[10] in C.

Function FFI:FOREIGN-FREE deallocates memory at the address held by the given foreign-entity. If :FULL is supplied and the argument is of type FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE, recursively frees the whole complex stucture pointed to by this variable.

If given a FFI:FOREIGN-FUNCTION object that corresponds to a CLISP callback, deallocates it. Callbacks are automatically created each time you pass a Lisp function via the FFI.

Use (SETF FFI:VALIDP) to disable further references to this address from Lisp. This is currently not done automatically. If the given pointer is already invalid, FFI:FOREIGN-FREE (currently) signals an ERROR. This may change to make it easier to integrate with EXT:FINALIZE.

Function FFI:FOREIGN-ALLOCATE is a lower-level interface as it requires an internal C type descriptor as returned by FFI:PARSE-C-TYPE.

(FFI:WITH-C-PLACE (variable foreign-entity) body)

Create a place out of the given FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE object so operations on places (e.g. FFI:CAST, FFI:DEREF, FFI:SLOT etc.) can be used within body. FFI:WITH-C-VAR appears as a composition of FFI:WITH-FOREIGN-OBJECT and FFI:WITH-C-PLACE.

Such a place can be used to access memory referenced by a foreign-entity object:

(setq foo (allocate-deep '(c-array uint8 3) rgb))
(with-c-place (place foo) (element place 0))

FFI:*OUTPUT-C-FUNCTIONS*
FFI:*OUTPUT-C-VARIABLES*
CLISP will write the extern declarations for foreign functions (defined with FFI:DEF-CALL-OUT) and foreign variables (defined with FFI:DEF-C-VAR) into the output #P".c" (when the Lisp file is compiled with COMPILE-FILE) unless these variables are NIL. They are NIL by default, so the extern declarations are not written; you are encouraged to use FFI:C-LINES to include the appropriate C headers. Set these variables to non-NIL if the headers are not available or not usable.

30.3.2. (Foreign) C types

Foreign C types are used in the FFI. They are not regular Common Lisp types or CLOS classes.

A c-type is either a predefined C type or the name of a type defined by FFI:DEF-C-TYPE.

the predefined C types (c-type)

simple-c-type

the simple C types

Lisp nameLisp equivalentC equivalentILU equivalentComment
NILNILvoid as a result type only
BOOLEANBOOLEANintBOOLEAN 
CHARACTERCHARACTERcharSHORT CHARACTER 
charINTEGERsigned char  
ucharINTEGERunsigned char  
shortINTEGERshort  
ushortINTEGERunsigned short  
intINTEGERint  
uintINTEGERunsigned int  
longINTEGERlong  
ulongINTEGERunsigned long  
uint8(UNSIGNED-BYTE 8)uint8BYTE 
sint8(SIGNED-BYTE 8)sint8  
uint16(UNSIGNED-BYTE 16)uint16SHORT CARDINAL 
sint16(SIGNED-BYTE 16)sint16SHORT INTEGER 
uint32(UNSIGNED-BYTE 32)uint32CARDINAL 
sint32(SIGNED-BYTE 32)sint32INTEGER 
uint64(UNSIGNED-BYTE 64)uint64LONG CARDINALdoes not work on all platforms
sint64(SIGNED-BYTE 64)sint64LONG INTEGERdoes not work on all platforms
SINGLE-FLOATSINGLE-FLOATfloat  
DOUBLE-FLOATDOUBLE-FLOATdouble  
FFI:C-POINTER
This type corresponds to what C calls void*, an opaque pointer. When used as an argument, NIL is accepted as a FFI:C-POINTER and treated as NULL; when a function wants to return a NULL FFI:C-POINTER, it actually returns NIL.
FFI:C-STRING
This type corresponds to what C calls char*, a zero-terminated string. Its Lisp equivalent is a string, without the trailing zero character.
(FFI:C-STRUCT class (ident1 c-type1) ... (identn c-typen))

This type is equivalent to what C calls struct { c-type1 ident1; ...; c-typen identn; }. Its Lisp equivalent is: if class is VECTOR, a SIMPLE-VECTOR; if class is LIST, a proper list; if class is a symbol naming a structure or CLOS class, an instance of this class, with slots of names ident1, ..., identn.

class may also be a CONS of a SYMBOL (as above) and a LIST of FFI:DEF-C-STRUCT options.

(FFI:C-UNION (ident1 c-type1) ... (identn c-typen))
This type is equivalent to what C calls union { c-type1 ident1; ...; c-typen identn; }. Conversion to and from Lisp assumes that a value is to be viewed as being of c-type1.
(FFI:C-ARRAY c-type dim1)
(FFI:C-ARRAY c-type (dim1 ... dimn))
This type is equivalent to what C calls c-type [dim1] ... [dimn]. Note that when an array is passed as an argument to a function in C, it is actually passed as a pointer; you therefore have to write (FFI:C-PTR (FFI:C-ARRAY ...)) for this argument's type.
(FFI:C-ARRAY-MAX c-type maxdimension)
This type is equivalent to what C calls c-type [maxdimension], an array containing up to maxdimension elements. The array is zero-terminated if it contains less than maxdimension elements. Conversion from Lisp of an array with more than maxdimension elements silently ignores the superfluous elements.
(FFI:C-FUNCTION (:ARGUMENTS {(argument a-c-type [PARAM-MODE [ALLOCATION]])}*) (:RETURN-TYPE r-c-type [ALLOCATION]) (:LANGUAGE language))
This type designates a C function that can be called according to the given prototype (r-c-type (*) (a-c-type1, ...)). Conversion between C functions and Lisp functions is transparent, and NULL/NIL is recognized and accepted.
(FFI:C-PTR c-type)
This type is equivalent to what C calls c-type *: a pointer to a single item of the given c-type.
(FFI:C-PTR-NULL c-type)
This type is also equivalent to what C calls c-type *: a pointer to a single item of the given c-type, with the exception that C NULL corresponds to Lisp NIL.
(FFI:C-ARRAY-PTR c-type)
This type is equivalent to what C calls c-type (*)[]: a pointer to a zero-terminated array of items of the given c-type.

CUSTOM:*FOREIGN-ENCODING* governs conversion for any c-type involving FFI:C-STRING or CHARACTER (but not char).

30.3.3. The choice of the C flavor.

FFI:C-FUNCTION, FFI:DEF-CALL-IN, FFI:DEF-CALL-OUT take :LANGUAGE argument. The language is either :C (denotes K&R C) or :STDC (denotes ANSI C) or :STDC-STDCALL (denotes ANSI C with the stdcall calling convention). It specifies whether the C function (caller or callee) has been compiled by a K&R C compiler or by an ANSI C compiler, and possibly the calling convention.

The default language is set using the macro FFI:DEFAULT-FOREIGN-LANGUAGE. If this macro has not been called in the current compilation unit (usually a file), a warning is issued and :STDC is used for the rest of the unit.

30.3.4. Foreign variables

Foreign variables are variables whose storage is allocated in the foreign language module. They can nevertheless be evaluated and modified through SETQ, just as normal variables can, except that the range of allowed values is limited according to the variable's foreign type. Note that for a foreign variable x the form (EQL x x) is not necessarily true, since every time x is evaluated its foreign value is converted to a fresh Lisp value. Foreign variables are defined using FFI:DEF-C-VAR.

30.3.5. Operations on foreign places

A FFI:FOREIGN-VARIABLE name defined by FFI:DEF-C-VAR, FFI:WITH-C-VAR or FFI:WITH-C-PLACE defines a place, i.e., a form which can also be used as argument to SETF. (An "lvalue" in C terminology.) The following operations are available on foreign places: FFI:ELEMENT, FFI:DEREF, FFI:SLOT, FFI:CAST, FFI:OFFSET, FFI:C-VAR-ADDRESS, FFI:C-VAR-OBJECT, FFI:TYPEOF, FFI:SIZEOF, FFI:BITSIZEOF.

30.3.6. Foreign functions

Foreign functions are functions which are defined in the foreign language. There are named foreign functions (imported via FFI:DEF-CALL-OUT or created via FFI:DEF-CALL-IN) and anonymous foreign functions; they arise through conversion of function pointers.

A "call-out" function is a foreign function called from Lisp: control flow temporarily leaves Lisp. A "call-in" function is a Lisp function called from the foreign language: control flow temporary enters Lisp.

The following forms define foreign functions: FFI:DEF-CALL-IN, FFI:DEF-CALL-OUT, FFI:DEF-C-CALL-IN, FFI:DEF-C-CALL-OUT.

30.3.7. Argument and result passing conventions

When passed to and from functions, allocation of arguments and results is handled as follows:

Values of SIMPLE-C-TYPE, FFI:C-POINTER are passed on the stack, with dynamic extent. The ALLOCATION is effectively ignored.

Values of type FFI:C-STRING, FFI:C-PTR, FFI:C-PTR-NULL, FFI:C-ARRAY-PTR need storage. The ALLOCATION specifies the allocation policy:

:NONE
no storage is allocated.
:ALLOCA
allocation of storage on the stack, which has dynamic extent.
:MALLOC-FREE
storage will be allocated via malloc and freed via free.

If no ALLOCATION is specified, the default ALLOCATION is :NONE for most types, but :ALLOCA for FFI:C-STRING and FFI:C-PTR and FFI:C-PTR-NULL and FFI:C-ARRAY-PTR and for :OUT arguments. [Subject to change!] The :MALLOC-FREE policy provides the ability to pass arbitrarily nested structs containing pointers pointing to structs ... within a single conversion.

For call-out functions:
For arguments passed from Lisp to C:
If ALLOCATION is :MALLOC-FREE:
Lisp allocates the storage using malloc and never deallocates it. The C function is supposed to call free when done with it.
If ALLOCATION is :ALLOCA:
Lisp allocates the storage on the stack, with dynamic extent. It is freed when the C function returns.
If ALLOCATION is :NONE:
Lisp assumes that the pointer already points to a valid area of the proper size and puts the result value there. This is dangerous! and deprecated.
For results passed from C to Lisp:
If ALLOCATION is :MALLOC-FREE:
Lisp calls free on it when done.
If ALLOCATION is :NONE:
Lisp does nothing.
For call-in functions:
For arguments passed from C to Lisp:
If ALLOCATION is :MALLOC-FREE:
Lisp calls free on it when done.
If ALLOCATION is :ALLOCA or :NONE:
Lisp does nothing.
For results passed from Lisp to C:
If ALLOCATION is :MALLOC-FREE:
Lisp allocates the storage using malloc and never deallocates it. The C function is supposed to call free when done with it.
If ALLOCATION is :NONE:
Lisp assumes that the pointer already points to a valid area of the proper size and puts the result value there. This is dangerous! and deprecated.

Warning

Passing FFI:C-STRUCT, FFI:C-UNION, FFI:C-ARRAY, FFI:C-ARRAY-MAX values as arguments (not via pointers) is only possible to the extent the C compiler supports it. Most C compilers do it right, but some C compilers (such as gcc on hppa and Win32) have problems with this. The recommended workaround is to pass pointers; this is fully supported. See also this message.

30.3.8. Parameter Mode

A function parameter's PARAM-MODE may be

:IN (means: read-only):
The caller passes information to the callee.
:OUT (means: write-only):
The callee passes information back to the caller on return. When viewed as a Lisp function, there is no Lisp argument corresponding to this, instead it means an additional return value.
:IN-OUT (means: read-write):
Information is passed from the caller to the callee and then back to the caller. When viewed as a Lisp function, the :OUT value is returned as an additional multiple value.

The default is :IN.

[Currently, only :IN is fully implemented. :OUT works only with ALLOCATION = :ALLOCA.]

30.3.9. Examples

Example 30.5. Simple declarations and access

The C declaration

struct foo {
    int a;
    struct foo * b[100];
};

corresponds to

(def-c-struct foo
  (a int)
  (b (c-array (c-ptr foo) 100)))

The element access

struct foo f;
f.b[7].a

corresponds to

(declare (type foo f))
(foo-a (aref (foo-b f) 7)) or (slot-value (aref (slot-value f 'b) 7) 'a)

Example 30.6. external C variable and some accesses

struct bar {
    short x, y;
    char a, b;
    int z;
    struct bar * n;
};

extern struct bar * my_struct;

my_struct->x++;
my_struct->a = 5;
my_struct = my_struct->n;

corresponds to

(def-c-struct bar
  (x short)
  (y short)
  (a char)
  (b char) ; or (b character) if it represents a character, not a number
  (z int)
  (n (c-ptr bar)))

(def-c-var my_struct (:type (c-ptr bar)))

(setq my_struct (let ((s my_struct)) (incf (slot-value s 'x)) s))
or (incf (slot my_struct 'x))
(setq my_struct (let ((s my_struct)) (setf (slot-value s 'a) 5) s))
or (setf (slot my_struct 'a) 5)
(setq my_struct (slot-value my_struct 'n))
or (setq my_struct (deref (slot my_struct 'n)))

Example 30.7. Calling an external function

On ANSI C systems, stdlib.h contains the declarations:

typedef struct {
  int quot;   /* Quotient */
  int rem;    /* Remainder */
} div_t;
extern div_t div (int numer, int denom);

This translates to

(def-c-struct (div_t :typedef)
  (quot int)
  (rem int))
(default-foreign-language :stdc)
(def-call-out div (:arguments (numer int) (denom int))
  (:return-type div_t))

Sample call from within Lisp:

(div 20 3)
#S(DIV_T :QUOT 6 :REM 2)

Example 30.8. Another example for calling an external function

Suppose the following is defined in a file cfun.c:

struct cfunr { int x; char *s; };
struct cfunr * cfun (int i,char *s,struct cfunr * r,int a[10]) {
  int j;
  struct cfunr * r2;
  printf("i = %d\n", i);
  printf("s = %s\n", s);
  printf("r->x = %d\n", r->x);
  printf("r->s = %s\n", r->s);
  for (j = 0; j < 10; j++) printf("a[%d] = %d.\n", j, a[j]);
  r2 = (struct cfunr *) malloc (sizeof (struct cfunr));
  r2->x = i+5;
  r2->s = "A C string";
  return r2;
}

It is possible to call this function from Lisp using the file callcfun.lisp (do not call it cfun.lisp - COMPILE-FILE would overwrite cfun.c) whose contents is:

(DEFPACKAGE "TEST-C-CALL" (:use "LISP" "FFI"))
(IN-PACKAGE "TEST-C-CALL")
(eval-when (compile) (setq FFI:*OUTPUT-C-FUNCTIONS* t))
(def-c-struct cfunr (x int) (s c-string))
(default-foreign-language :stdc)
(def-call-out cfun
    (:arguments (i int)
                (s c-string)
                (r (c-ptr cfunr) :in :alloca)
                (a (c-ptr (c-array int 10)) :in :alloca))
  (:return-type (c-ptr cfunr)))
(defun call-cfun ()
  (cfun 5 "A Lisp string" (make-cfunr :x 10 :s "Another Lisp string")
        '#(0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9)))

Use the module facility:

$ clisp-link create-module-set cfun callcfun.c
$ cc -O -c cfun.c
$ cd cfun
$ ln -s ../cfun.o cfun.o
Add cfun.o to NEW_LIBS and NEW_FILES in link.sh.
$ cd ..
$ base/lisp.run -M base/lispinit.mem -c callcfun.lisp
$ clisp-link add-module-set cfun base base+cfun
$ base+cfun/lisp.run -M base+cfun/lispinit.mem -i callcfun
> (test-c-call::call-cfun)
i = 5
s = A Lisp string
r->x = 10
r->s = Another Lisp string
a[0] = 0.
a[1] = 1.
a[2] = 2.
a[3] = 3.
a[4] = 4.
a[5] = 5.
a[6] = 6.
a[7] = 7.
a[8] = 8.
a[9] = 9.
#S(TEST-C-CALL::CFUNR :X 10 :S "A C string")
>
$ rm -r base+cfun

Note that there is a memory leak here: The return value r2 of cfun() is malloced but never freed. Specifying

(:return-type (c-ptr cfunr) :malloc-free)

is not an alternative because this would also free(r2->x) but r2->x is a pointer to static data.

Example 30.9. Calling Lisp from C

To sort an array of double-floats using the Lisp function SORT instead of the C library function qsort, one can use the following interface code sort1.c. The main problem is to pass a variable-sized array.

extern void lispsort_begin (int);
void* lispsort_function;
void lispsort_double (int n, double * array) {
    double * sorted_array;
    int i;
    lispsort_begin(n); /* store #'sort2 in lispsort_function */
    sorted_array = ((double * (*) (double *)) lispsort_function) (array);
    for (i = 0; i < n; i++) array[i] = sorted_array[i];
    free(sorted_array);
}

This is accompanied by sort2.lisp:

(DEFPACKAGE "FFI-TEST" (:use "LISP" "FFI"))
(IN-PACKAGE "FFI-TEST")
(eval-when (compile) (setq FFI:*OUTPUT-C-FUNCTIONS* t))
(def-call-in lispsort_begin (:arguments (n int))
  (:return-type nil)
  (:language :stdc))
(def-c-var lispsort_function (:type c-pointer))
(defun lispsort_begin (n)
  (setf (cast lispsort_function
              `(c-function
                 (:arguments (v (c-ptr (c-array double-float ,n))))
                 (:return-type (c-ptr (c-array double-float ,n))
                               :malloc-free)))
        #'sort2))
(defun sort2 (v)
  (declare (type vector v))
  (sort v #'<))

To test this, use the following test file sorttest.lisp:

(eval-when (compile) (setq FFI:*OUTPUT-C-FUNCTIONS* t))
(def-call-out sort10
  (:name "lispsort_double")
  (:language :stdc)
  (:arguments (n int)
              (array (c-ptr (c-array double-float 10)) :in-out)))

Now try

$ clisp-link create-module-set sort sort2.c sorttest.c
$ cc -O -c sort1.c
$ cd sort
$ ln -s ../sort1.o sort1.o

Add sort1.o to NEW_LIBS and NEW_FILES in link.sh. Create a file package.lisp containing the form (DEFPACKAGE "FFI-TEST" (:use "LISP" "FFI")) and add package.lisp to TO_PRELOAD in link.sh. Proceed:

$ cd ..
$ base/lisp.run -M base/lispinit.mem -c sort2.lisp sorttest.lisp
$ clisp-link add-module-set sort base base+sort
$ base+sort/lisp.run -M base+sort/lispinit.mem -i sort2 sorttest
> (sort10 10 '#(0.501d0 0.528d0 0.615d0 0.550d0 0.711d0
                0.523d0 0.585d0 0.670d0 0.271d0 0.063d0))
#(0.063d0 0.271d0 0.501d0 0.523d0 0.528d0 0.55d0 0.585d0 0.615d0 0.67d0 0.711d0)
$ rm -r base+sort

Example 30.10. Calling Lisp from C dynamically

Create a dynamic library lispdll (#P".dll" on Win32, #P".so" on UNIX) with the following function:

typedef int (*LispFunc)(int parameter);
int CallInFunc(LispFunc f) {
  return f(5)+11;
}

and call it from Lisp:

(ffi:def-call-out callout
  (:name "CallInFunc")
  (:library "lispdll.dll")
  (:arguments (function-arg
               (ffi:c-function (:arguments (number ffi:int))
                               (:return-type ffi:int) (:language :stdc))))
  (:return-type ffi:int)
  (:language :stdc))
(defun f (x) (* x 2))
F
(callout #'f)
21

Example 30.11. Variable size arguments: calling gethostname from CLISP

int gethostname(name, namelen);
char* name;
size_t namelen;

follows a typical pattern of C "out"-parameter convention - it expects a pointer to a buffer it is going to fill. So you must view this parameter as either :OUT or :IN-OUT. Additionaly, one must tell the function the size of the buffer. Here namelen is just an :IN parameter. Sometimes this will be an :IN-OUT parameter, returning the number of bytes actually filled in.

So name is actually a pointer to an array of up to namelen characters, regardless of what the poor char* C prototype says, to be used like a C string (NULL-termination). UNIX specifies that “host names are limited to HOST_NAME_MAX bytes”, which is, of course, system dependent, but it appears that 256 is sufficient.

In the present example, you can use allocation :ALLOCA, like you would do in C: stack-allocate a temporary.

(FFI:DEF-C-CALL-OUT gethostname
  (:arguments (name (FFI:C-PTR (FFI:C-ARRAY-MAX ffi:char 256))
		    :OUT :ALLOCA)
	      (len ffi:int))
  (:return-type ffi:int))

(defun myhostname ()
  (multiple-value-bind (success name)
      ;; :OUT and :IN-OUT parameters are returned as multiple values
      (gethostname 256)
    (if (zerop success) name
	(error ...)))) ;; strerror(errno)

(defvar hostname (myhostname))

Example 30.12. Accessing variables in shared libraries.

Suppose one wants to access and modify variables that reside in shared libraries:

struct bar {
  double x, y;
  double out;
};

struct bar my_struct = {10.0, 20.5, 0.0};

double test_dll(struct bar *ptr)
{
  return ptr->out = ptr->out + ptr->x + ptr->y;
}

This is compiled to libtest.so (or libtest.dll, depending on your platform).

Use the following lisp code:

(USE-PACKAGE "FFI")

(FFI:DEF-C-STRUCT bar
  (x double-float)
  (y double-float)
  (out double-float))

(FFI:DEF-CALL-OUT get-own-c-float
  (:library "libtest.so")
  (:language :stdc)
  (:name "test_dll")
  (:arguments (ptr c-pointer :in :alloca))
  (:return-type double-float))

(FFI:DEF-C-VAR my-c-var (:name "my_struct")
  (:library "libtest.so") (:type (c-ptr bar)))

Note that get-own-c-float takes a FFI:C-POINTER, not a (FFI:C-PTR bar) as the argument.

Now you can access call get-own-c-float on my-c-var:

(FFI:C-VAR-ADDRESS my-c-var)
#<FOREIGN-ADDRESS #x282935D8>
(get-own-c-float (FFI:C-VAR-ADDRESS my-c-var))
30.5d0
(get-own-c-float (FFI:C-VAR-ADDRESS my-c-var))
61.0d0
(get-own-c-float (FFI:C-VAR-ADDRESS my-c-var))
91.5d0
(get-own-c-float (FFI:C-VAR-ADDRESS my-c-var))
122.0d0

30.3.9.1. More examples

You can find more information and examples of the CLISP FFI in the following messages:

30.4. Extensions-2.4. The Amiga Foreign Function Call Facility

Platform dependent: no platform supports this currently.

Another Foreign Function Interface. All symbols relating to the simple foreign function interface are exported from the package AFFI. To use them, (USE-PACKAGE "AFFI").

30.4.1. Design issues

AFFI was designed to be small in size but powerful enough to use most library functions. Lisp files may be compiled to #P".fas" files without the need to load function definition files at run-time and without external C or linker support. memory images can be created, provided that the function libraries are opened at run-time.

Therefore, AFFI supports only primitive C types (integers 8, 16 and 32 bits wide, signed or unsigned, pointers) and defines no new types or classes. Foreign functions are not first-class objects (you can define a λ yourself), name spaces are separate.

The AFFI does no tracking of resources. Use EXT:FINALIZE.

30.4.2. Overview

These are the AFFI forms:

(declare-library-base keyword-base library-name)

(require-library-functions library-name [(:import {string-name}*)])

(open-library base-symbol)

(close-library base-symbol)

(with-open-library (base-symbol | library-name) {form}*)

(defflibfun function-name base-symbol offset mask result-type {argument-type}*)

(declare-library-function function-name library-name {option}*)

(flibcall function-name {argument}*)

(mlibcall function-name {argument}*)

(mem-read address result-type [offset])

(mem-write address type value [offset])

(mem-write-vector address vector [offset])

(nzero-pointer-p value)

Except for with-open-library, declare-library-function and mlibcall, all of the above are functions.

A library contains a collection of functions. The library is referred to by a symbol referred as library-base at the AFFI level. This symbol is created in the package AFFI. The link between this symbol and the OS-level library name is established by declare-library-base. To avoid multiple package conflicts, this and only this function requires the symbol-name to be in the KEYWORD package. The function returns the library-base.

A library may be opened by open-library and closed by close-library. An opened library must be closed. with-open-library is provided to automatically close the library for you, thus it is much safer to use.

A function is contained in a library. Every function is referred to by a symbol. A function is defined through defflibfun or declare-library-function by giving the function name, the library-base, an offset into the library, a mask (or NIL) for register-based library calls, the result type and all parameter-types. require-library-functions loads the complete set of functions defined in a library file. Symbols are created in the package AFFI and imported into the current package.

flibcall and mlibcall call library functions. mlibcall is a macro that does a few checks at macroexpansion time and allows the compiler to inline the call, not requiring the foreign function to be defined again at load or execution time. The use of this macro is advertised wherever possible.

mem-read reads an arbitrary address (with offset for structure references) and returns the given type.

mem-write writes an arbitrary address. mem-write-vector copies the content of a Lisp STRING or (VECTOR (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8)) into memory.

nzero-pointer-p tests for non-NULL pointers in all recognized representations (NULL, UNSIGNED-BYTE and FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER).

30.4.3. Foreign Libraries

declare-library-base ought to be wrapped in an (EVAL-WHEN (compile eval load) ...) form and come before any function is referenced, because the library base symbol must be known.

open-library tries to open the library referenced by the base symbol. Therefore it must have been preceded with declare-library-base. The call returns NIL on failure. open-library calls nest. Every successful call must be matched by close-library. with-open-library does this for you and also allows you to specify the library by name, provided that its base has been declared. It is recommended to use this macro and to reference the library by name.

CLISP will not close libraries for you at program exit. [A previous version did so but now AFFI is a module and there are no module exit functions.] Programmers, watch AFFI::*LIBRARIES-ALIST*.

30.4.4. (Foreign) C types

The following foreign C types are used in AFFI. They are not regular Common Lisp types or CLOS classes.

AFFI nameLisp equivalentC equivalentComment 
NILNILvoidas a result type for functions only 
4(UNSIGNED-BYTE 32)unsigned long  
2(UNSIGNED-BYTE 16)unsigned short  
1(UNSIGNED-BYTE 8)unsigned char  
-4(SIGNED-BYTE 32)long  
-2(SIGNED-BYTE 16)short  
-1(SIGNED-BYTE 8)signed char  
0BOOLEANBOOLas a result type for functions only 
*opaquevoid*  
:EXTERNALopaquevoid*  
STRINGSTRING or VECTORchar*  
:IOSTRING or VECTORchar*  

Objects of type STRING are copied and passed NULL-terminated on the execution stack. On return, a Lisp string is allocated and filled from the address returned (unless NULL). Functions with :IO parameters are passed the address of the Lisp string or unsigned byte vector. These are not NULL-terminated! This is useful for functions like like read which do not need an array at a constant address longer than the dynamic extent of the call (it is dangerous to define callback functions with :IO (or STRING) type parameters). Arguments of type INTEGER and FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER are always acceptable where a STRING or :IO type is specified.

See also CUSTOM:*FOREIGN-ENCODING*.

To meet the design goals, predefined types and objects were used. As such, pointers were represented as integers. Now that there is the FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER type, both representations may be used on input. The pointer type should be therefore considered as opaque. Use nzero-pointer-p for NULL tests.

30.4.5. Foreign functions

Foreign Functions are declared either through defflibfun or declare-library-function. The former is closer to the low-level implementation of the interface, the latter is closer to the other FFI.

defflibfun requires the library base symbol and register mask to be specified, declare-library-function requires the library name and computes the mask from the declaration of the arguments.

The value of mask is implementation-dependent.

The AFFI type 0 is only acceptable as a function result type and yields either T or NIL. The difference between * and :EXTERNAL is the following: * uses integers, :EXTERNAL uses FFI:FOREIGN-POINTER as function result-type (except from NIL for a NULL pointer) and refuses objects of type STRING or (VECTOR (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8)) as input. Thus :EXTERNAL provides some security on the input and the ability to use EXT:FINALIZE for resource-tracking on the output side.

(declare-library-function name library-name {option}*)

option ::==
 (:offset library-offset)
|(:ARGUMENTS {(argument AFFI-type register)}*)
|(:return-type AFFI-type)
register ::==
:d0 | :d1 | ... | :d7 | :a0 | ... | :a6

declares a named library function for further reference through flibcall and mlibcall.

mlibcall should be the preferred way of calling foreign functions (when they are known at compile-time) as macroexpansion-time checks may be performed and the call can be sort of inlined.

30.4.6. Memory access

(affi:mem-read address type offset) can read 8, 16 and 32 bit signed or unsigned integers (AFFI types -4, -2, -1, 1, 2, 4), a pointer (*), a NULL-terminated string (string) or, if the type argument is of type STRING or (VECTOR (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8)), it can fill this vector. :EXTERNAL is not an acceptable type as no object can be created by using affi:mem-read.

(affi:mem-write address type value [offset]) writes integers (AFFI type -4, -2, -1, 1, 2 and 4) or pointer values (type *), but not vectors to the specified memory address.

(affi:mem-write-vector address vector [offset]) can write memory from the given vector (of type STRING or (VECTOR (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8))).

30.4.7. Function Definition Files

affi:require-library-functions will REQUIRE a file of name derived from thelibrary name and with type affi. It may be used to import all names into the current package or only a given subset identified by string names, using the :import keyword (recommended use). Some definition files for standard Amiga libraries are provided. See Example 30.13, “Using a predefined library function file” below.

As affi:require-library-functions loads a global file which you, the programmer, may have not defined, you may consider declaring every function yourself to be certain what the return and argument types are. See Example 30.16, “Some sample function definitions” below.

The file read-fd.lisp defines the function make-partial-fd-file with which the provided .affi files have been prepared from the original Amiga FD files (located in the directory FD:). They must still be edited as the function cannot know whether a function accepts a *, :IO, string or :EXTERNAL argument and because files in FD: only contain a register specification, not the width of integer arguments (-4, -2, -1, 1, 2, or 4).

30.4.8. Hints

By using appropriate EVAL-WHEN forms for affi:declare-library-base and affi:require-library-functions and not using affi:flibcall, it is possible to write code that only loads library function definition files at compile-time. See Example 30.13, “Using a predefined library function file” below.

Do not rely on EXT:FINALIZE to free resources for you, as CLISP does not call finalizers when it exits, use UNWIND-PROTECT.

30.4.9. Caveats

You can consider the library bases being symbols in need of being imported from the package AFFI originating from a brain-damage, causing the usual symbol headaches when using foreign functions calls within macros. Luckily, even if the high-level interface (or its implementation in affi1.lisp) were to change, the low-level part (affi.d) should remain untouched as all it knows are INTEGERs and FFI:FOREIGN-POINTERs, no SYMBOLs. The difficulty is just to get the library base value at run-time. Feel free to suggest enhancements to this facility!

30.4.10. Examples

NB: These examples are somewhat specific to the Amiga.

Example 30.13. Using a predefined library function file

(DEFPACKAGE "AFFI-TEST" (:use "LISP" "AFFI"))
(IN-PACKAGE "AFFI-TEST")

;; SysBase is the conventional name for exec.library
;; It is only enforced by the file loaded by REQUIRE-LIBRARY-FUNCTIONS
(eval-when (compile eval load)
  (declare-library-base :SysBase "exec.library")) ;keyword avoids name conflicts

;; using only MLIBCALL allows not to load definitions at load-time
(eval-when (compile eval)
  (require-library-functions "exec.library"
    :import '("FindTask")))

(with-open-library ("exec.library")
  (print (mlibcall FindTask 0)))

This file can be used in interpreted and compiled mode. Compiled, it will have inlined the library function calls.

Example 30.14. Using flibcall

(DEFPACKAGE "AFFI-TEST" (:use "LISP" "AFFI"))
(IN-PACKAGE "AFFI-TEST")

(eval-when (compile eval load)
  ;; keyword avoids name conflicts
  (declare-library-base :SysBase "exec.library"))

;; The load situation permits the use of flibcall
(eval-when (eval compile load)
  (require-library-functions "exec.library"))

(unless (open-library 'SysBase) (error "No library for SysBase"))
(flibcall (if t 'FindTask 'Debug) 0)
(close-library 'SysBase)

Example 30.15. Be fully dynamic, defining library bases ourselves

(DEFPACKAGE "AFFI-TEST" (:use "LISP" "AFFI"))
(IN-PACKAGE "AFFI-TEST")

(eval-when (compile eval load)
  (defvar mylib (declare-library-base :foobase "foo.library")))
(eval-when (eval compile load)          ;eval allows mlibcall, load flibcall
  (defflibfun 'foo1 mylib -30 '#xA '* 'string)
  (defflibfun 'foo2 mylib -36 '#x21 0 * 4))

(defun foo (name)
  (when (open-library mylib)
    (list (mlibcall foo1 name) (flibcall 'foo2 name 123213))
    (close-library mylib)))

Example 30.16. Some sample function definitions

(defflibfun 'FindTask 'SysBase -294 #xA '* 'string)
(eval-library-function FindTask "exec.library"
  (:offset -294)
  (:return-type *)
  (:arguments
   (name   string   :A1)))
(declare-library-function NameFromLock "dos.library"
  (:offset -402)
  (:return-type 0)
  (:arguments
   (lock   4   :D1)
   (buffer :io :D2)
   (len    4   :D3)))

(eval-when (compile eval)
  (defconstant GVF_LOCAL_ONLY (ash 1 9))
  (defflibfun 'SetVar 'DosBase -900 #x5432 0 'string 'string -4 4))
(defun setvar (name value)
  (with-open-library (DosBase)
    ;; length of -1 means find length of NULL-terminated-string
    (mlibcall SetVar name value -1 GVF_LOCAL_ONLY)))

30.5. Extensions-2.5. Socket Streams

Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.

(SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVER &OPTIONAL [port-or-socket])
This function creates a socket an binds a port to the socket. The server exists to watch for client connect attempts. The optional argument is either a port (positive FIXNUM) or a SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM (from whose peer the connections will be made).
(SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVER-CLOSE socket-server)
Closes down the server socket. Just like streams, SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVERs are closed at garbage-collection. You should not rely on this however, because garbage-collection times are not deterministic.
(SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVER-HOST socket-server)
(SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVER-PORT socket-server)
Returns the host mask indicating which hosts can connect to this server and the port which was bound using SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVER.
(SOCKET:SOCKET-WAIT socket-server &OPTIONAL [seconds [microseconds]])
Wait for a fixed time for a connection on the socket-server (a SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVER). Without a timeout argument, SOCKET:SOCKET-WAIT blocks indefinitely. When timeout is zero, poll. Returns T when a connection is available (i.e., SOCKET:SOCKET-ACCEPT will not block) and NIL on timeout.
(SOCKET:SOCKET-ACCEPT socket-server &KEY :ELEMENT-TYPE :EXTERNAL-FORMAT :BUFFERED :TIMEOUT)
Creates the server-side two-way SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM for the connection. Waits for an attempt to connect to the server for no more than :TIMEOUT seconds (which may be a non-negative real number or a list (sec usec) or a pair (sec . usec)). SIGNALs an ERROR if no connection is made in that time.
(SOCKET:SOCKET-CONNECT port &OPTIONAL [host] &KEY :ELEMENT-TYPE :EXTERNAL-FORMAT :BUFFERED :TIMEOUT)
Attempts to create a client-side two-way SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM. Blocks until the server accepts the connection, for no more than :TIMEOUT seconds. If it is 0, returns immediately and (probably) blocks on the next i/o operation (you can use SOCKET:SOCKET-STATUS to check whether it will actually block).
(SOCKET:SOCKET-STATUS socket-stream-or-list &OPTIONAL [seconds [microseconds]])

Checks whether it is possible to read from or write to a SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM or whether a connection is available on a SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVER without blocking.

For the cognoscenti: this is the interface to select, so it will work for any CLISP STREAM which is based on a file descriptor, e.g., file/pipe/socket and EXT:*KEYBOARD-INPUT*.

This is similar to LISTEN, which checks only one STREAM and only for input, and SOCKET:SOCKET-WAIT, which works only with SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVERs.

We define “status” for a SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVER or a SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM to be :ERROR if any i/o operation will cause an error.

Additionally, for a SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVER, we define “status” to be T if a connection is available, i.e., is SOCKET:SOCKET-ACCEPT will not block, and NIL otherwise.

Additionally, for a SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM, we define “status” in the given direction (one of :INPUT, :OUTPUT, and :IO) to be

Possible status values for various directions:

:INPUT status:
NIL
reading will block
:INPUT
some input is available
:EOF
the stream has reached its end
:OUTPUT status:
NIL
writing will block
:OUTPUT
output to the stream will not block
:IO status:
output statusinput status
NIL:INPUT:EOF
NILNIL:INPUT:EOF
:OUTPUT:OUTPUT:IO:APPEND

Possible values of socket-stream-or-list:

SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM or SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVER
Returns the appropriate status, as defined above (:IO status for SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM)
(SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM . direction)
Return the status in the specified direction
a list of the above
Return a list of values, one for each element of the argument list (a la MAPCAR)

If you want to avoid CONSing up a fresh list, you can make the elements of socket-stream-or-list to be (socket-stream direction . x) or (socket-server . x). Then SOCKET:SOCKET-STATUS will destructively modify its argument and replace x or NIL with the status and return the modified list. You can pass this modified list to SOCKET:SOCKET-STATUS again.

The optional arguments specify the timeout. NIL means wait forever, 0 means poll.

The second value returned is the number of objects with non-NIL status, i.e., “actionable” objects. SOCKET:SOCKET-STATUS returns either due to a timeout or when this number is positive, i.e., if the timeout was NIL and SOCKET:SOCKET-STATUS did return, then the second value is positive.

(SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM-HOST socket-stream)
(SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM-PORT socket-stream)
These two functions return information about the SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM.
(SOCKET:SOCKET-SERVICE-PORT &OPTIONAL service-name (protocol "tcp"))
A convenience function for looking up a port given the service name. It returns the servent struct as multiple values (name, list of aliases, port, protocol) for the given service-name and protocol, or all services as the list of (SIMPLE-VECTOR 4) if service-name is not given or is :DEFAULT or NIL.
(SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM-PEER socket-stream [do-not-resolve-p])

Given a socket stream, this function returns the name of the host on the opposite side of the connection and its port number; the server-side can use this to see who connected.

When the optional second argument is non-NIL, the hostname resolution is disabled and just the IP address is returned, without the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name).

(SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM-LOCAL socket-stream [do-not-resolve-p])
The dual to SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM-PEER - same information, host name and port number, but for the local host. The difference from SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM-HOST and SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM-PORT is that this function asks the OS (and thus returns the correct trusted values) while the other two are just accessors to the internal data structure, and basically return the arguments given to the function which created the socket-stream.
(SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM-SHUTDOWN socket-stream direction)

Some Internet protocols, such as HTTP, provide for closing the connection in one direction using shutdown. This function provides an interface to this UNIX system call. direction should be :INPUT or :OUTPUT. Note that you should still call CLOSE after you are done with your socket-stream; this is best accomplished by using WITH-OPEN-STREAM.

All SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAMs are bidirectional STREAMs (i.e., both INPUT-STREAM-P and OUTPUT-STREAM-P return T for them). SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAM-SHUTDOWN breaks this and turns its argument stream into an input STREAM (if direction is :OUTPUT) or output STREAM (if direction is :INPUT). Thus, the following important invariant is preserved: whenever

the STREAM can be read from (e.g., with READ-CHAR or READ-BYTE).

(SOCKET:SOCKET-OPTIONS socket-server &REST {option}*)
Query and, optionally, set socket options using getsockopt and setsockopt. An option is a keyword, optionally followed by the new value. When the new value is not supplied, setsockopt is not called. For each option the old (or current, if new value was not supplied) value is returned. E.g., (SOCKET:SOCKET-OPTIONS socket-server :SO-LINGER 1 :SO-RCVLOWAT) returns 2 values: NIL, the old value of the :SO-LINGER option, and 1, the current value of the :SO-RCVLOWAT option.

30.6. Extensions-2.6. Quickstarting delivery with CLISP

This section describes three ways to turn CLISP programs into executable programs, which can be started as quickly as executables written in other languages.

UNIX
CLISP can act as a script interpreter.
Desktop environments such as KDE, GNOME, or Windows.
Files created with CLISP can be associated with the CLISP executable so that clicking on them would make CLISP execute the appropriate code.
Linux kernel with CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC=y
Associate the extensions #P".fas" and #P".lisp" with CLISP; then you can make the files executable and run them from the command line.

These three techniques apply to a single #P".lisp" or #P".fas" file. If your application is made up of several #P".lisp" or #P".fas" files, you can simply concatenate them (using cat) into one file; the techniques then apply to that concatenated file.

Platform dependent: UNIX platforms only.

On Unix, a text file (#P".fas" or #P".lisp") can be made executable by adding a first line of the form

#!interpreter [interpreter-arguments]

and using chmod to make the script executable. CLISP can be used as a script interpreter under the following circumstances:

  • The interpreter must be the full pathname of CLISP. The recommended path is /usr/local/bin/clisp, and if CLISP is actually installed elsewhere, making /usr/local/bin/clisp be a symbolic link to the real CLISP.
  • The interpreter must be a real executable, not a script. Unfortunately, in the binary distributions of CLISP on Solaris, clisp is a shell script because a C compiler cannot be assumed to be installed on this platform. If you do have a C compiler installed, build CLISP from the source yourself; make install will install clisp as a real executable.
  • On some platforms, the first line which specifies the interpreter is limited in length:

    • max. 32 characters on SunOS 4,
    • max. 80 characters on HP-UX,
    • max. 127 characters on Linux.

    Characters exceeding this limit are simply cut off by the system. At least 128 characters are accepted on Solaris, IRIX, AIX, OSF/1. There is no workaround: You have to keep the interpreter pathname and arguments short.

  • On Solaris and HP-UX, only the first interpreter-arg is passed to the interpreter. In order to pass more than one option (for example, -Msomewhere.mem and -C) to CLISP, separate them by hard spaces (ISO Latin-1 character 160) instead of normal spaces. (But the separator between interpreter and interpreter-arguments must still be a normal space!) CLISP will split the interpreter-arguments at hard spaces and at normal spaces.

Script execution. 

  • The script should contain Lisp forms, except in the #! line.
  • The file is loaded normally, through the function LOAD (in particular, the name of the script file, which is $0 in /bin/sh, can be found in *LOAD-TRUENAME* and *LOAD-PATHNAME*).
  • Before it is loaded, the variable EXT:*ARGS* is bound to a list of strings, representing the arguments given to the Lisp script (i.e., $1 in /bin/sh becomes (CAR EXT:*ARGS*) etc).
  • *STANDARD-INPUT* and *STANDARD-OUTPUT* are bound, as usual, to the Unix standard input and output. *ERROR-OUTPUT* is bound to the Unix error output.
  • Continuable errors will be turned to warnings (using EXT:APPEASE-CERRORS).
  • Non-continuable errors and Control-C interrupts will terminate the execution of the Lisp script with an error status (using EXT:EXIT-ON-ERROR).
  • If you wish the script's contents to be compiled during loading, add -C to the interpreter-arguments.

See also the manual.

If nothing works. Another, quite inferior, alternative is to put the following into a file:

#!/bin/sh
exec clisp <<EOF
(lisp-form)
(another-lisp-form)
(yet-another-lisp-form)
EOF

The problem with this approach is that the return values of each form will be printed to the standard output. Another problem is that no user input will be available.

Platform dependent: Win32 platforms only.

There are two different ways to make CLISP "executables" for Windows platforms.

  • Associate the #P".mem" extension with c:\clisp\lisp.exe -B c:\clisp -M %s.
  • Associate the #P".fas" extension with c:\clisp\lisp.exe -B c:\clisp -M c:\clisp\lispinit.mem -i %s. Alternatively, you may want to have a function main in your #P".fas" files and associate the #P".fas" extension with c:\clisp\lisp.exe -B c:\clisp -M c:\clisp\lispinit.mem -i %s -x (main).

Then clicking on the compiled lisp file (with #P".fas" extension) will load the file (thus executing all the code in the file), while the clicking on a CLISP memory image (with #P".mem" extension) will start clisp with the given memory image.

Note that CLISP is distributed with a file install.bat, which creates a file clisp.lnk on your desktop and also associates #P".fas", #P".lisp", and #P".mem" files with CLISP.

Platform dependent: Linux platforms only.

You have to build your kernel with CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC=y and CONFIG_PROC_FS=y. Then you will have a /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/ directory and you will be able to do (as root; you might want to put these lines into /etc/rc.d/rc.local):

bash# echo ":CLISP:E::fas::/usr/local/bin/clisp:" >> /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/register
bash# echo ":CLISP:E::lisp::/usr/local/bin/clisp:" >> /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/register

Then you can do the following:

bash$ cat << EOF > hello.lisp
(print "hello, world!")
EOF
bash$ clisp -c hello.lisp

Compiling file hello.lisp ...

Compilation of file hello.lisp is finished.
0 errors, 0 warnings
bash$ chmod +x hello.fas
bash$ hello.fas

"hello, world!"
bash$

Please read /usr/src/linux/Documentation/binfmt_misc.txt for details.

30.7. Extensions-2.7. Application delivery with CLISP

Some ways of packaging CLISP programs are discussed in the section Quickstarting delivery with CLISP.

CLISP is Free Software, covered by the GNU GPL, with special terms governing the distribution of applications that run in CLISP. The precise terms can be found in the COPYRIGHT file contained in the source and binary distributions of CLISP. Here is an informal clarification what these terms mean in practice. Please refer to the said COPYRIGHT file when in doubt.

In many cases, CLISP does not force an application to be covered by the GNU GPL. Nevertheless, we encourage you to release your software under an open source license. The benefits of such a license for your users are numerous, in particular they are free to modify the application when their needs/requirements change, and they are free to recompile the application when they upgrade their machine or operating system.

CLISP extensions, i.e. programs which need to access non-portable CLISP internal symbols (in the packages SYSTEM, CLOS, FFI, ...), must be covered by GNU GPL as well.

Other programs running in CLISP have to or need not to be placed under GNU GPL, depending on their distribution form:

  • Programs distributed as Lisp source or #P".fas" files can be distributed without restrictions coming from CLISP.
  • Programs distributed as CLISP memory images can be distributed only if accompanied with the non-CLISP #P".fas" files which make up the memory image, and a #P"Makefile" for rebuilding the memory image.
  • If you need to distribute a modified CLISP executable (for example, incorporating additional modules written in C), you must distribute its full source under GNU GPL. If you are not satisfied with this, you can instead put the additional modules into a separate (non-CLISP) program, with which your Lisp program will communicate via SOCKET:SOCKET-STREAMs.

30.8. Extensions-2.8. Shell, Pipes and Printing

30.8.1. Shell

Platform dependent: UNIX platforms only.
(EXT:EXECUTE program arg1 arg2 ...) executes an external program. Its name is program (a full pathname). It is given the strings arg1, arg2, ... as arguments.
Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.
(EXT:SHELL [command]) calls the operating system's shell, the value of the environment variable SHELL on UNIX and COMSPEC on Win32. (EXT:SHELL) calls the shell for interactive use. (EXT:SHELL command) calls the shell only for execution of the one given command.
Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.

The functions EXT:RUN-SHELL-COMMAND and EXT:RUN-PROGRAM are the general interface to EXT:SHELL and the above:

(EXT:RUN-SHELL-COMMAND command &KEY :INPUT :OUTPUT :IF-OUTPUT-EXISTS :WAIT) runs a shell command (including shell built-in commands, like DIR on Win32 and for/do/done on UNIX).

(EXT:RUN-PROGRAM program &KEY :ARGUMENTS :INPUT :OUTPUT :IF-OUTPUT-EXISTS :WAIT) runs an external program.

command

the shell command.

Platform dependent: UNIX platforms only.
The shell the command is passed to is the value of the environment variable SHELL, which normally is /bin/sh. The command should be a “simple command”; a “command list” should be enclosed in "{ ... ; }" (for /bin/sh) or "( ... )" (for /bin/csh).
program
the program. The directories listed in the environment variable PATH will be searched for it.
:ARGUMENTS
a list of arguments (strings) that are given to the program.
:INPUT
where the program's input is to come from: either :TERMINAL (the standard input, default) or :STREAM (a Lisp stream to be created) or a pathname (an input file) or NIL (no input at all).
:OUTPUT
where the program's output is to be sent to: either :TERMINAL (the standard output, default) or :STREAM (a Lisp stream to be created) or a pathname (an output file) or NIL (ignore the output).
:IF-OUTPUT-EXISTS
what to do if the :OUTPUT file already exists. The possible values are :OVERWRITE, :APPEND, :ERROR, with the same meaning as for OPEN. The default is :OVERWRITE.
:WAIT
whether to wait for program termination or not (this is useful when no i/o to the process is needed); the default is T, i.e., synchronous execution.
:MAY-EXEC
pass exec to the underlying shell (UNIX only).
:INDIRECTP
use a shell to run the command, e.g., (EXT:RUN-PROGRAM "dir" :indirectp T) will run the shell built-in command DIR. (Win32 only).

If :STREAM was specified for :INPUT or :OUTPUT, a Lisp STREAM is returned. If :STREAM was specified for both :INPUT and :OUTPUT, three Lisp STREAMs are returned, as for the function EXT:MAKE-PIPE-IO-STREAM. This use of EXT:RUN-PROGRAM can cause deadlocks, see EXT:MAKE-PIPE-IO-STREAM.

30.8.2. Pipes

Platform dependent: UNIX, Win32 platforms only.
(EXT:MAKE-PIPE-INPUT-STREAM command &KEY :ELEMENT-TYPE :EXTERNAL-FORMAT :BUFFERED)
returns an input STREAM that will supply the output from the execution of the given operating system command.
(EXT:MAKE-PIPE-OUTPUT-STREAM command &KEY :ELEMENT-TYPE :EXTERNAL-FORMAT :BUFFERED)
returns an output STREAM that will pass its output as input to the execution of the given operating system command.
(EXT:MAKE-PIPE-IO-STREAM command &KEY :ELEMENT-TYPE :EXTERNAL-FORMAT :BUFFERED)

returns three values. The first value is a bidirectional STREAM that will simultaneously pass its output as input to the execution of the given operating system command and supply the output from this command as input. The second and third value will be the input STREAM and the output STREAM that make up the bidirectional STREAM, respectively.

Warning

Note that these three streams must be closed individually.

Warning

Note that improper use of this function can lead to deadlocks. Use it at your own risk!

A deadlock occurs if the command and your Lisp program either both try to read from each other at the same time or both try to write to each other at the same time.

To avoid deadlocks, it is recommended that you fix a protocol between the command and your program and avoid any hidden buffering: use READ-CHAR, READ-CHAR-NO-HANG, LISTEN, SOCKET:SOCKET-STATUS instead of READ-LINE and READ on the input side, and complete every output operation by a FINISH-OUTPUT. The same precautions must apply to the called command as well.

30.8.3. Printing

The macro EXT:WITH-OUTPUT-TO-PRINTER:

(EXT:WITH-OUTPUT-TO-PRINTER (variable [:EXTERNAL-FORMAT])
  {declaration}*
  {form}*)

binds the variable variable to an output STREAM that sends its output to the printer.

30.9. Extensions-2.9. Operating System Environment.

Most modern operating systems support environment variables that associate strings (“variables”) with other strings (“values”). These variables are somewhat similar to the SPECIAL variables in Common Lisp: their values are inherited by the processes from their parent process.

You can access your OS environment variables using the function (EXT:GETENV &OPTIONAL string), where string is the name of the environment variable. When string is omitted or NIL, all the environment variables and their values are returned in an alist.

You can change the value of existing environment variables or create new ones using (SETF (EXT:GETENV string) new-value).

30.10. Extensions-2.10. Other

Platform dependent: UNIX platforms only.

When running under the X Window System, you can create a bidirectional STREAM, which uses a new dedicated xterm, using the function EXT:MAKE-XTERM-IO-STREAM:

  (SETQ *ERROR-OUTPUT*
    (SETQ *DEBUG-IO*
      (EXT:MAKE-XTERM-IO-STREAM)))

Internals of the CLISP Implementation

Chapter 31. Overview of CLISP's Garbage Collection

These are internals, which are of interest only to the CLISP developers. If you are not subscribed to , this chapter is probably not for you.

31.1. Introduction

Knowing that most malloc implementations are buggy and/or slow, and because CLISP needs to perform garbage collection, CLISP has its own memory management subsystem in files #P"spvw*.d".

31.2. Lisp objects in CLISP

Three kinds of storage are distinguished:

  • CLISP data (the "heap"), i.e. storage which contains Lisp objects and is managed by the garbage collector.
  • CLISP stack (called STACK), contains CLISP objects
  • C data (including program text, data, malloced memory)

A CLISP object is one word, containing a tag (partial type information) and either immediate data (e.g. FIXNUMs or SHORT-FLOATs) or a pointer to storage. Pointers to C data have tag = machine_type = 0, pointers to CLISP stack have tag = system_type, most other pointers point to CLISP data.

Let us turn to these CLISP objects that consume regular CLISP memory. Every CLISP object has a size which is determined when the object is allocated (using one of the allocate_*() routines). The size can be computed from the type tag and - if necessary - the length field of the object's header. The length field always contains the number of elements of the object. The number of bytes is given by the function objsize().

CLISP objects which contain exactly 2 CLISP objects (i.e. CONSes, COMPLEX numbers, RATIOs) are stored in a separate area and occupy 2 words each. All other CLISP objects have "varying length" (more precisely, not a fixed length) and include a word for garbage collection purposes at their beginning.

The garbage collector is invoked by allocate_*() calls according to certain heuristics. It marks all objects which are "live" (may be reached from the "roots"), compacts these objects and unmarks them. Non-live objects are lost; their storage is reclaimed.

2-pointer objects are compacted by a simple hole-filling algorithm: fill the left-most object into the right-most hole, and so on, until the objects are contiguous at the right and the hole is contiguous at the left.

Variable-length objects are compacted by sliding them down (their address decreases).

31.3. Memory Models

There are 6 memory models. Which one is used, depends on the operating system and is determined at build time.

Memory Models

SPVW_MIXED_BLOCKS_OPPOSITE

The heap consists of one block of fixed length (allocated at startup). The variable-length objects are allocated from the left, the 2-pointer objects are allocated from the right. There is a hole between them. When the hole shrinks to 0, garbage-collect is invoked. garbage-collect slides the variable-length objects to the left and concentrates the 2-pointer objects at the right end of the block again. When no more room is available, some reserve area beyond the right end of the block is halved, and the 2-pointer objects are moved to the right accordingly.

overview

(+)
Simple management.
(+)
No fragmentation at all.
(-)
The total heap size is limited.

SPVW_MIXED_BLOCKS_OPPOSITE & TRIVIALMAP_MEMORY

The heap consists of two big blocks, one for variable-length objects and one for 2-pointer objects. The former one has a hole to the right and is extensible to the right, the latter one has a hole to the left and is extensible to the left. Similar to the previous model, except that the hole is unmapped.

overview

(+)
Total heap size grows depending on the application's needs.
(+)
No fragmentation at all.
(*)
Works only when SINGLEMAP_MEMORY is possible as well.

SPVW_MIXED_BLOCKS_STAGGERED & TRIVIALMAP_MEMORY

The heap consists of two big blocks, one for variable-length objects and one for 2-pointer objects. Both have a hole to the right, but are extensible to the right.

overview

(+)
Total heap size grows depending on the application's needs.
(+)
No fragmentation at all.
(*)
Works only when SINGLEMAP_MEMORY is possible as well.

SPVW_MIXED_PAGES

The heap consists of many small pages (usually around 8 KB). There are two kinds of pages: one for 2-pointer objects, one for variable-length objects. The set of all pages of a fixed kind is called a "Heap". Each page has its hole (free space) at its end. For every heap, the pages are kept sorted according to the size of their hole, using AVL trees. Garbage collection is invoked when the used space has grown by 25% since the last GC; until that point new pages are allocated from the operating system. The GC compacts the data in each page separately: data is moved to the left. Emptied pages are given back to the OS. If the holes then make up more than 25% of the occupied storage, a second GC turn moves objects across pages, from nearly empty ones to nearly full ones, with the aim to free as many pages as possible.

overview

(-)
every allocation requires AVL tree operations, thus slower
(+)
Total heap size grows depending on the application's needs.
(+)
Works on operating systems which do not provide large contiguous areas.

SPVW_PURE_PAGES

Just like SPVW_MIXED_PAGES, except that every page contains data of only a single type tag, i.e. there is a Heap for every type tag.

overview

(-)
every allocation requires AVL tree operations, thus slower
(+)
Total heap size grows depending on the application's needs.
(+)
Works on operating systems which do not provide large contiguous areas.
(-)
More fragmentation because objects of different type never fit into the same page.
SPVW_PURE_BLOCKS

There is a big block of storage for each type tag. Each of these blocks has its data to the left and the hole to the right, but these blocks are extensible to the right (because there is enough room between them). A garbage collection is triggered when the allocation amount since the last GC reaches 50% of the amount of used space at the last GC, but at least 512 KB. The garbage collection cleans up each block separately: data is moved left.

overview

(+)
Total heap size grows depending on the application's needs.
(+)
No 16 MB total size limit.
(*)
Works only in combination with SINGLEMAP_MEMORY.

In page based memory models, an object larger than a page is the only object carried by its pages. There are no small objects in pages belonging to a big object.

The following combinations of memory model and mmap tricks are possible (the number indicates the order in which the respective models have been developed):

Table 31.1. Memory models with TYPECODES

 no MAP_MEMORYTRIVIALMAP_MEMORYSINGLEMAP_MEMORYMULTIMAP_MEMORYGENERATIONAL_GC
SPVW_MIXED_BLOCKS_OPPOSITE110 29
SPVW_MIXED_BLOCKS_STAGGERED 7  8
SPVW_PURE_BLOCKS  5 6
SPVW_MIXED_PAGES3    
SPVW_PURE_PAGES4    

Table 31.2. Memory models with no TYPECODES

 no MAP_MEMORYTRIVIALMAP_MEMORYGENERATIONAL_GC
SPVW_MIXED_BLOCKS_OPPOSITE***
SPVW_MIXED_BLOCKS_STAGGERED **
SPVW_MIXED_PAGES*  

31.4. The burden of garbage-collection upon the rest of CLISP

Every subroutine marked with can trigger GC may invoke garbage-collect. garbage-collect moves all the CLISP objects and updates the pointers. But the garbage-collect looks only on the STACK and not in the C variables. (Anything else would not be portable.) Therefore at every "unsafe" point, i.e. every call to such a subroutine, all the C variables of type object MUST BE ASSUMED TO BECOME GARBAGE. (Except for objects that are known to be unmovable, e.g. immediate data or Subrs.) Pointers inside CLISP data (e.g. to the characters of a STRING or to the elements of a SIMPLE-VECTOR) become INVALID as well.

The workaround is usually to allocate all the needed CLISP data first and do the rest of the computation with C variables, without calling unsafe routines, and without worrying about garbage-collect.

Run-time GC-safety checking is available when you build CLISP with a C++ compiler, e.g.:

bash$ CC=g++ ./configure --with-debug build-g-gxx

When built like this, CLISP will abort when you reference GC-unsafe data after an allocation (which could have triggered a garbage-collection), and gdb will pinpoint the trouble spot.

31.5. Foreign Pointers

Pointers to C functions and to malloced data can be hidden in CLISP objects of type machine_type; garbage-collect will not modify its value. But one should not dare to assume that a C stack pointer or the address of a C function in a shared library satisfies the same requirements.

If another pointer is to be viewed as a CLISP object, it is best to box it, e.g. in a SIMPLE-BIT-VECTOR or in an Fpointer (using allocate_fpointer().)

Chapter 32. Extending CLISP.

Common Lisp is a programmable programming language.

CLISP can be easily extended the same way any other Common Lisp implementation can: create a lisp file with your variables, functions, macros, etc.; LOAD it into a running CLISP, and save the memory image.

This method does not work when you need to use some functionality not available in CLISP, e.g., you want to call a C function. You are urged to use External Modules instead of adding built-in function. Note that CLISP comes with an FFI which allows you to access C libraries in an easy way (including creating FFI:FOREIGN-FUNCTIONs dynamically).

32.1. Adding a built-in function.

In the rare cases when you really need to modify CLISP internals and add a truly built-in function, you should read the CLISP sources for inspiration and enlightenment, choose a file where your brand-new built-in function should go to, and then ...

  • add the LISPFUN form and the implementation there;
  • add the LISPFUN header to file #P"subr.d";
  • declare the function name in file #P"constsym.d" in the appropriate package (probably EXT, if there is no specific package);
  • if your function accepts keyword arguments, then an appropriate pair of forms must be added to #P"subrkw.d" and you must make sure that the keyword symbols are declared in #P"constsym.d";
  • export your function name from the appropriate package in file #P"init.lisp";
  • when you are done, you should run make check-sources in your build directory: this will check that the definitions (source files) and the declarations (#P"subr.d", #P"subrkw.d" and #P"fsubr.d") are in sync.

Warning

Be very careful with the GC-unsafe functions! Always remember about GC-safety!

These instructions are intentionally terse - you are encouraged to use modules and/or FFI instead of adding built-ins directly.

32.2. Adding a built-in variable.

If you must be able to access the variable in the C code, follow these steps:

  • declare the variable name in #P"constsym.d" in the appropriate package (probably CUSTOM, if there is no specific package);
  • add a define_variable() call in function init_symbol_values() in file #P"spvw.d";
  • export your variable name from the appropriate package in file #P"init.lisp";

32.3. Recompilation.

Any change that forces make to remake #P"lisp.run", will force recompilation of all #P".lisp" files and re-dumping of #P"lispinit.mem", which may be time-consuming. This is not always necessary, depending on what kind of change you introduced.

On the other hand, if you change any of the following files:

#P"constobj.d"
#P"constsym.d"
#P"fsubr.d"
#P"subr.d"
#P"subrkw.d"

your #P"lispinit.mem" will have to be re-dumped.

Warning

If you change the signature of any system function mentioned in the FUNTAB arrays in file #P"eval.d", all the #P".fas" files will become obsolete and will need to be recompiled. You will need to add a note to that effect to the #P"NEWS" file and augment the object version in file #P"constsym.d". Please try to avoid this as much as possible.

Chapter 33. The CLISP bytecode specification

Last modified: 19 September 1998.

33.1. Introduction

The CLISP compiler compiles Common Lisp programs into instruction codes for a virtual processor. This bytecode is optimized for saving space in the most common cases of Common Lisp programs. The main advantages/drawbacks of this approach, compared to native code compilation, are:

  • Bytecode compiled programs are a lot smaller than when compiled to native code. This results in better use of CPU caches, and in less virtual memory paging. Users perceive this as good responsiveness.
  • Maximum execution speed (throughput in tight loops) is limited.
  • Since no bytecode instructions are provided for "unsafe" operations (like unchecked array accesses, or "fast" CAR/CDR), programs run with all safety checks enabled even when compiled.
  • Execution speed of a program can easily be understood by looking at the output of the DISASSEMBLE function. A rule of thumb is that every elementary instruction costs 1 time unit, whereas a function call costs 3 to 4 time units.
  • Needing to do no type inference, the compiler is pretty straightforward and fast. As a consequence, the definition of CLOS generic functions, which needs to compile small pieces of generated code, is not perceived to be slow.
  • The compiler is independent from the hardware CPU. Different back-ends, one for each hardware CPU, are not needed. As a consequence, the compiler is fairly small (and would have been easily maintainable if it were written in a less kludgey way...), and it is impossible for the compiler writer to introduce CPU dependent bugs.

33.2. The virtual machine

The bytecode can be thought of as being interpreted by a virtual processor. The engine which actually interprets the bytecode (the "implementation of the virtual machine") is actually a C function, but it could as well be a just-in-time compiler which translates a function's bytecode into hardware CPU instructions the first time said function is called.

The virtual machine is a stack machine with two stacks:

STACK
a stack for CLISP objects and frames (“Lisp stack”).
SP
a stack for other data and pointers (“Program stack”).

This two-stack architecture permits to save an unlimited number of CLISP objects on the STACK (needed for handling of Common Lisp multiple values), without consing. Also, in a world with a compacting no-ambiguous-roots garbage collector, STACK must only hold CLISP objects, and SP can hold all the other data belonging to a frame, which would not fit into STACK without tagging/untagging overhead.

The scope of STACK and SP is only valid for a given function invocation. Whereas the amount of STACK space needed for executing a function (excluding other function calls) is unlimited, the amount of SP space needed is known a priori, at compile time. When a function is called, no relation is specified between the caller's STACK and the callee's STACK, and between the caller's SP and the callee's SP. The bytecode is designed so that outgoing arguments on the caller's STACK can be shared by the caller's incoming arguments area (on the callee's STACK), but a virtual machine implementation may also copy outgoing arguments to incoming arguments instead of sharing them.

The virtual machine has a special data structure, values, containing the "top of stack", specially adapted to Common Lisp multiple values:

mv_count
an unsigned integer.
value1
the first value, a CLISP object. If mv_count = 0, this is NIL.
mv_space
all values except the first one, an array of CLISP objects.

The contents of values is short-lived. It does not survive a function call, not even a garbage collection.

The interpretation of some bytecode instructions depends on a constant, jmpbufsize. This is a CPU-dependent number, the value of SYSTEM::*JMPBUF-SIZE*. In C, it is defined as ceiling(sizeof(jmp_buf),sizeof(void*)).

33.3. The structure of compiled functions

A compiled function consists of two objects: The function itself, containing the references to all CLISP objects needed for the bytecode, and a byte vector containing only immediate data, including the bytecode proper.

Typically, the byte vector is about twice as large as the function vector. The separation thus helps the garbage collector (since the byte vector does not need to be scanned for pointers).

A function looks like this (cf. the C type Cclosure):

name
This is the name of the function, normally a symbol or a list of the form (SETF symbol). It is used for printing the function and for error messages. This field is immutable.
codevec
This is the byte-code vector, a (SIMPLE-ARRAY (UNSIGNED-BYTE 8) (*)). This field is immutable.
consts[]
The remaining fields in the function object are references to other CLISP objects. These references are immutable, which is why they are called "constants". (The referenced CLISP objects can be mutable objects, such as CONSes or VECTORs, however.)

The Exception to the Immutability Rule

When a generic function's dispatch code is installed, the codevec and consts fields are destructively modified.

Some of the consts can play special roles. A function looks like this, in more detail:

name
see above.
codevec
see above.
venv-const*
At most one object, representing the closed-up variables, representing the variables of the lexical environment in which this function was defined. It is a SIMPLE-VECTOR, which looks like this: #(next value1 ... valuen) where value1, ..., valuen are the values of the closed-up variables, and next is either NIL or a SIMPLE-VECTOR having the same structure.
block-const*
Objects representing closed-up BLOCK tags, representing the BLOCK tags of the lexical environment in which this function was defined. Each is a CONS containing in the CDR part: either a frame pointer to the block frame, or #<DISABLED>. The CAR is the block's name, only for error message purposes.
tagbody-const*
Objects representing closed-up TAGBODY tags, representing the TAGBODY tags of the lexical environment in which this function was defined. Each is a CONS containing in the CDR part: either a frame pointer to the TAGBODY frame, or #<DISABLED> if the TAGBODY has already been left. The CAR is a SIMPLE-VECTOR containing the names of the TAGBODY tags, only for the error message purposes.
keyword-const*
If the function was defined with a lambda list containing &KEY, here come the symbols ("keywords"), in their correct order. They are used by the interpreter during function call.
other-const*
Other objects needed by the function's bytecode.

If venv-const, block-const, tagbody-const are all absent, the function is called autonomous. This is the case if the function does not refer to lexical variables, blocks or tags defined in compile code outside of the function. In particular, it is the case if the function is defined in a null lexical environment.

If some venv-const, block-const, or tagbody-const are present, the function (a "closure") is created at runtime. The compiler only generates a prototype, containing NIL values instead of each venv-const, block-const, tagbody-const. At runtime, a function is created by copying this prototype and replacing the NIL values by the definitive ones.

The list (keyword-const* other-const*) normally does not contain duplicates, because the compiler removes duplicates when possible. (Duplicates can occur nevertheless, through the use of LOAD-TIME-VALUE.)

The codevec looks like this (cf. the C type Codevec):

spdepth_1 (2 bytes)
The 1st part of the maximal SP depth.
spdepth_jmpbufsize (2 bytes)
The jmpbufsize part of the maximal SP depth. The maximal SP depth (precomputed by the compiler) is given by spdepth_1 + spdepth_jmpbufsize * jmpbufsize.
numreq (2 bytes)
Number of required parameters.
numopt (2 bytes)
Number of optional parameters.
flags (1 byte)
bit 0
set if the function has an &REST parameter
bit 7
set if the function has &KEY parameters
bit 6
set if the function has &ALLOW-OTHER-KEYS
bit 4
set if the function is a generic function
bit 3
set if the function is a generic function and its effective method shall be returned (instead of being executed)
signature (1 byte)
An abbreviation code depending on numreq, numopt, flags. It is used for speeding up the function call.
numkey (2 bytes, only if the function has &KEY)
The number of &KEY parameters.
keyconsts (2 bytes, only if the function has &KEY)
The offset of the keyword-const in the function.
byte* (any number of bytes)
The bytecode instructions.

33.4. The general structure of the instructions

All instructions consist of one byte, denoting the opcode, and some number of operands.

The conversion from a byte (in the range 0..255) to the opcode is performed by lookup in the table contained in the file #P"bytecode.d".

There are the following types of operands, denoted by different letters:

k, n, m, l
A (nonnegative) numeric operand. The next byte is read. If its bit 7 is zero, then the bits 6..0 give the value (7 bits). If its bit 7 is one, then the bits 6..0 and the subsequent byte together form the value (15 bits).
b
A (nonnegative) 1-byte operand. The next byte is read and is the value.
label
A label operand. A signed numeric operand is read: The next byte is read. If its bit 7 is zero, then the bits 6..0 give the value (7 bits, sign-extended). If its bit 7 is one, then the bits 6..0 and the subsequent byte together form the value (15 bits, sign-extended). If the latter 15-bit result is zero, then four more bytes are read and put together (32 bits, sign-extended). Finally, the bytecode pointer for the target is computed as the current bytecode pointer (pointing after the operand just read), plus the signed numeric operand.

33.5. The instruction set

33.5.1. Instructions for constants

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(NIL)Load NIL into values.value1 := NIL, mv_count := 1
(PUSH-NIL n)Push nNILs into the STACK.n times do: *--STACK := NIL, values undefined
(T)Load T into values.value1 := T, mv_count := 1
(CONST n)Load the function's nth constant into values.value1 := consts[n], mv_count := 1

33.5.2. Instructions for lexical variables

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(LOAD n)Load a directly accessible local variable into values.value1 := *(STACK+n), mv_count := 1
(LOADI k1 k2 n)Load an indirectly accessible local variable into values.k := k1 + jmpbufsize * k2, value1 := *(*(SP+k)+ n), mv_count := 1
(LOADC n m)Load a closed-up variable, defined in the same function and directly accessible, into values.value1 := SVREF(*(STACK+n),1+m), mv_count := 1
(LOADV k m)Load a closed-up variable, defined in an outer function, into values.v := venv-const, m times do: v := SVREF(v,0), value1 := SVREF(v,m), mv_count := 1
(LOADIC k1 k2 n m)Load a closed-up variable, defined in the same function and indirectly accessible, into values.k := k1 + jmpbufsize * k2, value1 := SVREF(*(*(SP+k)+n),1+m), mv_count := 1
(STORE n)Store values into a directly accessible local variable.*(STACK+n) := value1, mv_count := 1
(STOREI k1 k2 n)Store values into an indirectly accessible local variable.k := k1 + jmpbufsize * k2, *(*(SP+k)+ n) := value1, mv_count := 1
(STOREC n m)Store values into a closed-up variable, defined in the same function and directly accessible.SVREF(*(STACK+n),1+m) := value1, mv_count := 1
(STOREV k m)Store values into a closed-up variable, defined in an outer function.v := venv-const, m times do: v := SVREF(v,0), SVREF(v,m) := value1, mv_count := 1
(STOREIC k1 k2 n m)Store values into a closed-up variable, defined in the same function and indirectly accessible.k := k1 + jmpbufsize * k2, SVREF(*(*(SP+k)+n),1+m) := value1, mv_count := 1

33.5.3. Instructions for dynamic variables

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(GETVALUE n)Load a symbol's value into values.value1 := symbol-value(consts[n]), mv_count := 1
(SETVALUE n)Store values into a symbol's value.symbol-value(consts[n]) := value1, mv_count := 1
(BIND n)Bind a symbol dynamically.Bind the value of the symbol consts[n] to value1, implicitly STACK -= 3, values undefined
(UNBIND1)Dissolve one binding frame.Unbind the binding frame STACK is pointing to, implicitly STACK += 3
(UNBIND n)Dissolve n binding frames.n times do: Unbind the binding frame STACK is pointing to, thereby incrementing STACK Thus, STACK += 1+2*n
(PROGV)Bind a set of symbols dynamically to a set of values.symbols := *STACK++, *--SP := STACK, build a single binding frame binding the symbols in symbols to the values in value1, values undefined

33.5.4. Instructions for stack operations

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(PUSH)Push one object onto the STACK.*--STACK := value1, values undefined
(POP)Pop one object from the STACK, into values.value1 := *STACK++, mv_count := 1
(SKIP n)Restore a previous STACK pointer. Remove n objects from the STACK.STACK := STACK + n
(SKIPI k1 k2 n)Restore a previous STACK pointer. Remove an unknown number of objects from the STACK.k := k1 + jmpbufsize * k2, STACK := *(SP+k), SP := SP+k+1, STACK := STACK + n
(SKIPSP k1 k2)Restore a previous SP pointer.k := k1 + jmpbufsize * k2, SP := SP+k

33.5.5. Instructions for control flow, jumps

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(SKIP&RET n)Clean up the STACK, and return from the function.STACK := STACK+n, return from the function, returning values.
(SKIP&RETGF n)Clean up the STACK, and return from the generic function.If bit 3 is set in the function's flags, then STACK := STACK+n, mv_count := 1, and return from the function. Otherwise: if the current function has no &REST argument, then STACK := STACK+n-numreq, apply value1 to the numreq arguments still on the STACK, and return from the function. Else STACK := STACK+n-numreq-1, apply value1 to the numreq arguments and the &REST argument, all still on the STACK, and return from the function.
(JMP label)Jump to label.PC := label.
(JMPIF label)Jump to label, if value1 is true.If value1 is not NIL, PC := label.
(JMPIFNOT label)Jump to label, if value1 is false.If value1 is NIL, PC := label.
(JMPIF1 label)Jump to label and forget secondary values, if value1 is true.If value1 is not NIL, mv_count := 1, PC := label.
(JMPIFNOT1 label)Jump to label and forget secondary values, if value1 is false.If value1 is NIL, mv_count := 1, PC := label.
(JMPIFATOM label)Jump to label, if value1 is not a cons.If value1 is not a cons, PC := label. values undefined
(JMPIFCONSP label)Jump to label, if value1 is a cons.If value1 is a cons, PC := label. values undefined
(JMPIFEQ label)Jump to label, if value1 is EQ to the top-of-stack.If eq(value1,*STACK++), PC := label. values undefined
(JMPIFNOTEQ label)Jump to label, if value1 is not EQ to the top-of-stack.If not eq(value1,*STACK++), PC := label. values undefined
(JMPIFEQTO n label)Jump to label, if the top-of-stack is EQ to a constant.If eq(*STACK++,consts[n]), PC := label. values undefined
(JMPIFNOTEQTO n label)Jump to label, if the top-of-stack is not EQ to a constant.If not eq(*STACK++,consts[n]), PC := label. values undefined
(JMPHASH n label)Table-driven jump, depending on value1.Lookup value1 in the hash table consts[n]. (The hash table's test is either EQ or EQL.) If found, the hash table value is a signed FIXNUM, jump to it: PC := PC + value. Else jump to label. values undefined
(JMPHASHV n label)Table-driven jump, depending on value1, inside a generic function.Lookup value1 in the hash table SVREF(consts[0],n). (The hash table's test is either EQ or EQL.) If found, the hash table value is a signed FIXNUM, jump to it: PC := PC + value. Else jump to label. values undefined
(JSR label)Subroutine call.*--STACK := function. Then start interpreting the bytecode at label, with values undefined. When a (RET) is encountered, program execution is resumed at the instruction after (JSR label).
(JMPTAIL m n label)Tail subroutine call.n>=m. The STACK frame of size n is reduced to size m: {*(STACK+n-m), ..., *(STACK+n-1)} := {*STACK, ..., *(STACK+m-1)}. STACK += n-m. *--STACK := function. Then jump to label, with values undefined.

33.5.6. Instructions for lexical environment, creation of closures

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(VENV)Load the venv-const into values.value1 := consts[0], mv_count := 1.
(MAKE-VECTOR1&PUSH n)Create a SIMPLE-VECTOR used for closed-up variables.v := new SIMPLE-VECTOR of size n+1. SVREF(v,0) := value1. *--STACK := v. values undefined
(COPY-CLOSURE m n)Create a closure by copying the prototype and filling in the lexical environment.f := copy-function(consts[m]). For i=0,..,n-1: f_consts[i] := *(STACK+n-1-i). STACK += n. value1 := f, mv_count := 1

33.5.7. Instructions for function calls

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(CALL k n)Calls a constant function with k arguments.The function consts[n] is called with the arguments *(STACK+k-1), ..., *(STACK+0). STACK += k. The returned values go into values.
(CALL0 n)Calls a constant function with 0 arguments.The function consts[n] is called with 0 arguments. The returned values go into values.
(CALL1 n)Calls a constant function with 1 argument.The function consts[n] is called with one argument *STACK. STACK += 1. The returned values go into values.
(CALL2 n)Calls a constant function with 2 arguments.The function consts[n] is called with two arguments *(STACK+1) and *(STACK+0). STACK += 2. The returned values go into values.
(CALLS1 b)Calls a system function with no &REST.Calls the system function FUNTAB[b]. The right number of arguments is already on the STACK (including #<UNBOUND>s in place of absent &OPTIONAL or &KEY parameters). The arguments are removed from the STACK. The returned values go into values.
(CALLS2 b)Calls a system function with no &REST.Calls the system function FUNTAB[256+b]. The right number of arguments is already on the STACK (including #<UNBOUND>s in place of absent &OPTIONAL or &KEY parameters). The arguments are removed from the STACK. The returned values go into values.
(CALLSR m b)Calls a system function with &REST.Calls the system function FUNTABR[b]. The minimum number of arguments is already on the STACK, and m additional arguments as well. The arguments are removed from the STACK. The returned values go into values.
(CALLC)Calls a computed compiled function with no &KEY.Calls the compiled function value1. The right number of arguments is already on the STACK (including #<UNBOUND>s in place of absent &OPTIONAL parameters). The arguments are removed from the STACK. The returned values go into values.
(CALLCKEY)Calls a computed compiled function with &KEY.Calls the compiled function value1. The right number of arguments is already on the STACK (including #<UNBOUND>s in place of absent &OPTIONAL or &KEY parameters). The arguments are removed from the STACK. The returned values go into values.
(FUNCALL n)Calls a computed function.Calls the function *(STACK+n) with the arguments *(STACK+n-1), ..., *(STACK+0). STACK += n+1. The returned values go into values.
(APPLY n)Calls a computed function with an unknown number of arguments.Calls the function *(STACK+n) with the arguments *(STACK+n-1), ..., *(STACK+0) and a list of additional arguments value1. STACK += n+1. The returned values go into values.

33.5.8. Instructions for optional and keyword parameters

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(PUSH-UNBOUND n)Push n#<UNBOUND>s into the STACK.n times do: *--STACK := #<UNBOUND>. values undefined
(UNLIST n m)Destructure a proper LIST.0 ≤ mn. n times do: *--STACK := CAR(value1), value1 := CDR(value1). During the last m iterations, the list value1 may already have reached its end; in this case, *--STACK := #<UNBOUND>. At the end, value1 must be NIL. values undefined
(UNLIST* n m)Destructure a proper or dotted LIST.0 ≤ mn, n > 0. n times do: *--STACK := CAR(value1), value1 := CDR(value1). During the last m iterations, the list value1 may already have reached its end; in this case, *--STACK := #<UNBOUND>. At the end, after nCDRs, *--STACK := value1. values undefined
(JMPIFBOUNDP n label)Jump to label, if a local variable is not unbound.If *(STACK+n) is not #<UNBOUND>, value1 := *(STACK+n), mv_count := 1, PC := label. Else: values undefined.
(BOUNDP n)Load T or NIL into values, depending on whether a local variable is bound.If *(STACK+n) is not #<UNBOUND>, value1 := T, mv_count := 1. Else: value1 := NIL, mv_count := 1.
(UNBOUND->NIL n)If a local variable is unbound, assign a default value NIL to it.If *(STACK+n) is #<UNBOUND>, *(STACK+n) := NIL.

33.5.9. Instructions for multiple values

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(VALUES0)Load no values into values.value1 := NIL, mv_count := 0
(VALUES1)Forget secondary values.mv_count := 1
(STACK-TO-MV n)Pop the first n objects from STACK into values.Load values(*(STACK+n-1),...,*(STACK+0)) into values. STACK += n.
(MV-TO-STACK)Save values on STACK.Push the mv_count values onto the STACK (in order: value1 comes first). STACK -= mv_count. values undefined
(NV-TO-STACK n)Save n values on STACK.Push the first n values onto the STACK (in order: value1 comes first). STACK -= n. values undefined
(MV-TO-LIST)Convert multiple values into a list.value1 := list of values, mv_count := 1
(LIST-TO-MV)Convert a LIST into multiple values.Call the function VALUES-LIST with value1 as argument. The returned values go into values.
(MVCALLP)Start a MULTIPLE-VALUE-CALL invocation.*--SP := STACK. *--STACK := value1.
(MVCALL)Finish a MULTIPLE-VALUE-CALL invocation.newSTACK := *SP++. Call the function *(newSTACK-1), passing it *(newSTACK-2), ..., *(STACK+0) as arguments. STACK := newSTACK. The returned values go into values.

33.5.10. Instructions for BLOCK and RETURN-FROM

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(BLOCK-OPEN n label)Create a BLOCK frame.Create a BLOCK frame, STACK -= 3, SP -= 2+jmpbufsize. The topmost (third) object in the block frame is CONS(consts[n],frame-pointer) (its block-cons). Upon a RETURN-FROM to this frame, execution will continue at label. values undefined.
(BLOCK-CLOSE)Dissolve a BLOCK frame.Dissolve the BLOCK frame at STACK, STACK += 3, SP += 2+jmpbufsize. Mark the block-cons as invalid.
(RETURN-FROM n)Leave a BLOCK whose block-cons is given.block-cons := consts[n]. If CDR(block-cons) = #<DISABLED>, SIGNAL an ERROR. Else CDR(block-cons) is a frame-pointer. Unwind the stack up to this frame, pass it values.
(RETURN-FROM-I k1 k2 n)Leave a BLOCK whose block-cons is indirectly accessible.k := k1 + jmpbufsize * k2, block-cons := *(*(SP+k)+n). If CDR(block-cons) = #<DISABLED>, SIGNAL an ERROR. Else CDR(block-cons) is a frame-pointer. Unwind the stack up to this frame, pass it values.

33.5.11. Instructions for TAGBODY and GO

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(TAGBODY-OPEN m label1 ... labeln)Create a TAGBODY frame.Fetch consts[m], this is a SIMPLE-VECTOR with n elements, then decode n label operands. Create a TAGBODY frame, STACK -= 3+n, SP -= 1+jmpbufsize. The third object in the TAGBODY frame is CONS(consts[m],frame-pointer) (the tagbody-cons) Upon a GO to tag label of this frame, execution will continue at labell. values undefined
(TAGBODY-CLOSE-NIL)Dissolve a TAGBODY frame, and load NIL into values.Dissolve the TAGBODY frame at STACK, STACK += 3+m, SP += 1+jmpbufsize. Mark the tagbody-cons as invalid. value1 := NIL, mv_count := 1.
(TAGBODY-CLOSE)Dissolve a TAGBODY frame.Dissolve the TAGBODY frame at STACK, STACK += 3+m, SP += 1+jmpbufsize. Mark the tagbody-cons as invalid.
(GO n label)Jump into a TAGBODY whose tagbody-cons is given.tagbody-cons := consts[n]. If CDR(tagbody-cons) = #<DISABLED>, SIGNAL an ERROR. Else CDR(tagbody-cons) is a frame-pointer. Unwind the stack up to this frame, pass it the number label.
(GO-I k1 k2 n label)Jump into a TAGBODY whose tagbody-cons is indirectly accessible.k := k1 + jmpbufsize * k2, tagbody-cons := *(*(SP+k)+n). If CDR(tagbody-cons) = #<DISABLED>, SIGNAL an ERROR. Else CDR(tagbody-cons) is a frame-pointer. Unwind the stack up to this frame, pass it the number label.

33.5.12. Instructions for CATCH and THROW

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(CATCH-OPEN label)Create a CATCH frame.Create a CATCH frame, with value1 as tag. STACK -= 3, SP -= 2+jmpbufsize. Upon a THROW to this tag execution continues at label.
(CATCH-CLOSE)Dissolve a CATCH frame.Dissolve the CATCH frame at STACK. STACK += 3, SP += 2+jmpbufsize.
(THROW)Non-local exit to a CATCH frame.tag := *STACK++. Search the innermost CATCH frame with tag tag on the STACK, unwind the stack up to it, pass it values.

33.5.13. Instructions for UNWIND-PROTECT

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(UNWIND-PROTECT-OPEN label)Create an UNWIND-PROTECT frame.Create an UNWIND-PROTECT frame. STACK -= 2, SP -= 2+jmpbufsize. When the stack will be unwound by a non-local exit, values will be saved on STACK, and execution will be transferred to label.
(UNWIND-PROTECT-NORMAL-EXIT)Dissolve an UNWIND-PROTECT frame, and start the cleanup code.Dissolve the UNWIND-PROTECT frame at STACK. STACK += 2, SP += 2+jmpbufsize. *--SP := 0, *--SP := 0, *--SP := STACK. Save the values on the STACK, STACK -= mv_count.
(UNWIND-PROTECT-CLOSE)Terminate the cleanup code.newSTACK := *SP++. Load values(*(newSTACK-1), ..., *(STACK+0)) into values. STACK := newSTACK. SPword1 := *SP++, SPword2 := *SP++. Continue depending on SPword1 and SPword2. If both are 0, simply continue execution. If SPword2 is 0 but SPword1 is nonzero, interpret it as a label and jump to it.
(UNWIND-PROTECT-CLEANUP)Dissolve an UNWIND-PROTECT frame, and execute the cleanup code like a subroutine call.Dissolve the UNWIND-PROTECT frame at STACK, get label out of the frame. STACK += 2, SP += 2+jmpbufsize. *--SP := 0, *--SP := PC, *--SP := STACK. Save the values on the STACK, STACK -= mv_count. PC := label.

33.5.14. Instructions for HANDLER-BIND

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(HANDLER-OPEN n)Create a handler frame.Create a handler frame, using consts[n] which contains the CONDITION types, the corresponding labels and the current SP depth (= function entry SP - current SP).
(HANDLER-BEGIN&PUSH)Start a handler.Restore the same SP state as after the HANDLER-OPEN. value1 := the CONDITION that was passed to the handler, mv_count := 1. *--STACK := value1.

33.5.15. Instructions for some inlined functions

mnemonicdescriptionsemantics
(NOT)Inlined call to NOT.value1 := not(value1), mv_count := 1.
(EQ)Inlined call to EQ.value1 := eq(*STACK++,value1), mv_count := 1.
(CAR)Inlined call to CAR.value1 := CAR(value1), mv_count := 1.
(CDR)Inlined call to CDR.value1 := CDR(value1), mv_count := 1.
(CONS)Inlined call to CONS.value1 := cons(*STACK++,value1), mv_count := 1.
(SYMBOL-FUNCTION)Inlined call to SYMBOL-FUNCTION.value1 := SYMBOL-FUNCTION(value1), mv_count := 1.
(SVREF)Inlined call to SVREF.value1 := SVREF(*STACK++,value1), mv_count := 1.
(SVSET)Inlined call to SYSTEM::SVSTORE.arg1 := *(STACK+1), arg2 := *(STACK+0), STACK += 2. SVREF(arg2,value1) := arg1. value1 := arg1, mv_count := 1.
(LIST n)Inlined call to LIST.value1 := LIST(*(STACK+n-1),...,*(STACK+0)), mv_count := 1, STACK += n.
(LIST* n)Inlined call to LIST*.value1 := LIST*(*(STACK+n-1),..., *(STACK+0),value1), mv_count := 1, STACK += n.

33.5.16. Combined instructions

The most frequent short sequences of instructions have an equivalent combined instruction. They are only present for space and speed optimization. The only exception is FUNCALL&SKIP&RETGF, which is needed for generic functions.

mnemonicequivalent
(NIL&PUSH)(NIL) (PUSH)
(T&PUSH)(T) (PUSH)
(CONST&PUSH n)(CONST n) (PUSH)
(LOAD&PUSH n)(LOAD n) (PUSH)
(LOADI&PUSH k1 k2 n)(LOADI k1 k2 n) (PUSH)
(LOADC&PUSH n m)(LOADC n m) (PUSH)
(LOADV&PUSH k m)(LOADV k m) (PUSH)
(POP&STORE n)(POP) (STORE n)
(GETVALUE&PUSH n)(GETVALUE n) (PUSH)
(JSR&PUSH label)(JSR label) (PUSH)
(COPY-CLOSURE&PUSH m n)(COPY-CLOSURE m n) (PUSH)
(CALL&PUSH k n)(CALL k n) (PUSH)
(CALL1&PUSH n)(CALL1 n) (PUSH)
(CALL2&PUSH n)(CALL2 n) (PUSH)
(CALLS1&PUSH b)(CALLS1 b) (PUSH)
(CALLS2&PUSH b)(CALLS2 b) (PUSH)
(CALLSR&PUSH m n)(CALLSR m n) (PUSH)
(CALLC&PUSH)(CALLC) (PUSH)
(CALLCKEY&PUSH)(CALLCKEY) (PUSH)
(FUNCALL&PUSH n)(FUNCALL n) (PUSH)
(APPLY&PUSH n)(APPLY n) (PUSH)
(CAR&PUSH)(CAR) (PUSH)
(CDR&PUSH)(CDR) (PUSH)
(CONS&PUSH)(CONS) (PUSH)
(LIST&PUSH n)(LIST n) (PUSH)
(LIST*&PUSH n)(LIST* n) (PUSH)
(NIL&STORE n)(NIL) (STORE n)
(T&STORE n)(T) (STORE n)
(LOAD&STOREC k n m)(LOAD k) (STOREC n m)
(CALLS1&STORE b k)(CALLS1 b) (STORE k)
(CALLS2&STORE b k)(CALLS2 b) (STORE k)
(CALLSR&STORE m n k)(CALLSR m n) (STORE k)
(LOAD&CDR&STORE n)(LOAD n) (CDR) (STORE n)
(LOAD&CONS&STORE n)(LOAD n+1) (CONS) (STORE n)
(LOAD&INC&STORE n)(LOAD n) (CALL1 #'1+) (STORE n)
(LOAD&DEC&STORE n)(LOAD n) (CALL1 #'1-) (STORE n)
(LOAD&CAR&STORE m n)(LOAD m) (CAR) (STORE n)
(CALL1&JMPIF n label)(CALL1 n) (JMPIF label)
(CALL1&JMPIFNOT n label)(CALL1 n) (JMPIFNOT label)
(CALL2&JMPIF n label)(CALL2 n) (JMPIF label)
(CALL2&JMPIFNOT n label)(CALL2 n) (JMPIFNOT label)
(CALLS1&JMPIF b label)(CALLS1 b) (JMPIF label)
(CALLS1&JMPIFNOT b label)(CALLS1 b) (JMPIFNOT label)
(CALLS2&JMPIF b label)(CALLS2 b) (JMPIF label)
(CALLS2&JMPIFNOT b label)(CALLS2 b) (JMPIFNOT label)
(CALLSR&JMPIF m n label)(CALLSR m n) (JMPIF label)
(CALLSR&JMPIFNOT m n label)(CALLSR m n) (JMPIFNOT label)
(LOAD&JMPIF n label)(LOAD n) (JMPIF label)
(LOAD&JMPIFNOT n label)(LOAD n) (JMPIFNOT label)
(LOAD&CAR&PUSH n)(LOAD n) (CAR) (PUSH)
(LOAD&CDR&PUSH n)(LOAD n) (CDR) (PUSH)
(LOAD&INC&PUSH n)(LOAD n) (CALL1 #'1+) (PUSH)
(LOAD&DEC&PUSH n)(LOAD n) (CALL1 #'1-) (PUSH)
(CONST&SYMBOL-FUNCTION n)(CONST n) (SYMBOL-FUNCTION)
(CONST&SYMBOL-FUNCTION&PUSH n)(CONST n) (SYMBOL-FUNCTION) (PUSH)
(CONST&SYMBOL-FUNCTION&STORE n k)(CONST n) (SYMBOL-FUNCTION) (STORE k)
(APPLY&SKIP&RET n k)(APPLY n) (SKIP&RET k)
(FUNCALL&SKIP&RETGF n k)(FUNCALL n) (SKIP&RETGF k)

33.5.17. Shortcut instructions

There are special one-byte instructions (without explicit operands) for the following frequent instructions:

mnemonicoperand range
(LOAD n)0 ≤ n < 15
(LOAD&PUSH n)0 ≤ n < 25
(CONST n)0 ≤ n < 21
(CONST&PUSH n)0 ≤ n < 30
(STORE n)0 ≤ n < 8

Appendix A. GNU Free Documentation License

Version 1.2, November 2002

Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

A.1. PREAMBLE

The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others.

This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software.

We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference.

A.2. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS

This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium, that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration, to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The "Document", below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as "you". You accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work in a way requiring permission under copyright law.

A "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language.

A "Secondary Section" is a named appendix or a front-matter section of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the publishers or authors of the Document to the Document's overall subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding them.

The "Invariant Sections" are certain Secondary Sections whose titles are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it is not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document may contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.

The "Cover Texts" are certain short passages of text that are listed, as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that the Document is released under this License. A Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may be at most 25 words.

A "Transparent" copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented in a format whose specification is available to the general public, that is suitable for revising the document straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of markup, has been arranged to thwart or discourage subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. An image format is not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that is not "Transparent" is called "Opaque".

Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain ASCII without markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input format, SGML or XML using a publicly available DTD, and standard-conforming simple HTML, PostScript or PDF designed for human modification. Examples of transparent image formats include PNG, XCF and JPG. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that can be read and edited only by proprietary word processors, SGML or XML for which the DTD and/or processing tools are not generally available, and the machine-generated HTML, PostScript or PDF produced by some word processors for output purposes only.

The "Title Page" means, for a printed book, the title page itself, plus such following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material this License requires to appear in the title page. For works in formats which do not have any title page as such, "Title Page" means the text near the most prominent appearance of the work's title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.

A section "Entitled XYZ" means a named subunit of the Document whose title either is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses following text that translates XYZ in another language. (Here XYZ stands for a specific section name mentioned below, such as "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", "Endorsements", or "History".) To "Preserve the Title" of such a section when you modify the Document means that it remains a section "Entitled XYZ" according to this definition.

The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice which states that this License applies to the Document. These Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and has no effect on the meaning of this License.

A.3. VERBATIM COPYING

You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.

You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly display copies.

A.4. COPYING IN QUANTITY

If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The front cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve the title of the Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other respects.

If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as many as fit reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto adjacent pages.

If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering more than 100, you must either include a machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location from which the general network-using public has access to download using public-standard network protocols a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material. If you use the latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least one year after the last time you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that edition to the public.

It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well before redistributing any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the Document.

A.5. MODIFICATIONS

You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:

  1. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the Document, and from those of previous versions (which should, if there were any, be listed in the History section of the Document). You may use the same title as a previous version if the original publisher of that version gives permission.
  2. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you from this requirement.
  3. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the publisher.
  4. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
  5. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other copyright notices.
  6. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.
  7. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover Texts given in the Document's license notice.
  8. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
  9. Preserve the section Entitled "History", Preserve its Title, and add to it an item stating at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled "History" in the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document as given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as stated in the previous sentence.
  10. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network locations given in the Document for previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in the "History" section. You may omit a network location for a work that was published at least four years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version it refers to gives permission.
  11. For any section Entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications", Preserve the Title of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
  12. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered in their text and in their titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.
  13. Delete any section Entitled "Endorsements". Such a section may not be included in the Modified Version.
  14. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled "Endorsements" or to conflict in title with any Invariant Section.
  15. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.

If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version's license notice. These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.

You may add a section Entitled "Endorsements", provided it contains nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties--for example, statements of peer review or that the text has been approved by an organization as the authoritative definition of a standard.

You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.

The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.

A.6. COMBINING DOCUMENTS

You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.

The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but different contents, make the title of each such section unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.

In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled "History" in the various original documents, forming one section Entitled "History"; likewise combine any sections Entitled "Acknowledgements", and any sections Entitled "Dedications". You must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements".

A.7. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.

You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.

A.8. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS

A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.

If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.

A.9. TRANSLATION

Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.

If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", or "History", the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.

A.10. TERMINATION

You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided for under this License. Any other attempt to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

A.11. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.

Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.

A.12. ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents

To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the document and put the following copyright and license notices just after the title page:

Copyright (c) YEAR YOUR NAME. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the "with...Texts." line with this:

with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with the Front-Cover Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts being LIST.

If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.

If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free software.

Index

References

Books

[CLtL1] Guy L. Steele, Jr.. Common Lisp: the Language (1st Edition). 1984. 465. 0-201-10088-6. Digital Press.

[CLtL2] Guy L. Steele, Jr.. Common Lisp: the Language (2nd Edition). 1990. 1032. 0-201-10088-6. Digital Press.

[Metaobject Protocol] AMOPGregor Kiczales, Jim des Rivieres, and Daniel G. Bobrow. The Art of the Metaobject Protocol. 1991. 335. 0-262-61074-4. MIT Press.

ANSI standard documents

[ANSI CL standard] ANSI CL1994. ANSI Common Lisp standard X3.226-1994 - Information Technology - Programming Language - Common Lisp.

[Common Lisp HyperSpec] CLHSCommon Lisp HyperSpec.