4 The COMMON-LISP Package

string

Type

Summary

The string type.

Package

common-lisp

Signature

string length element-type

Arguments

length: The length of the string (or*, meaning any).
element-type: The type of string element. The default is the value oflw:*default-character-element-type* rather than*.

Description

The union of all string types as specified in the standard, but extended with an extra parameter: element-type.

(stringlength element-type) means all string types whose element type is a subtype of element-type. That is:

(string * base-char)      = (vector base-char *) 

(string * lw:simple-char) = (or (vector base-char *)
                                (vector lw:simple-char *))

(string * character)      = (or (vector base-char *)
                                (vector lw:simple-char *)
                                (vector character *))

Example

CL-USER 235 > (lw:set-default-character-element-type
                     'base-char)
BASE-CHAR
CL-USER 236 > (concatenate 'string "f" "o" "o")
"foo"
CL-USER 237 > (type-of *)
SIMPLE-BASE-STRING

See also

*default-character-element-type* set-default-character-element-type