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find-symbol

find-symbol Function

Syntax:

find-symbol string &optional package → symbol, status

Arguments and Values:

string—a string.

package—a package designator . The default is the current package.

symbol—a symbol accessible in the package, or nil.

status—one of :inherited, :external, :internal, or nil.

find-symbol

Description:

find-symbol locates a symbol whose name is string in a package. If a symbol named string is found in package, directly or by inheritance, the symbol found is returned as the first value; the second value is as follows:

:internal

If the symbol is present in package as an internal symbol.

:external

If the symbol is present in package as an external symbol.

:inherited

If the symbol is inherited by package through use-package, but is not present in package. If no such symbol is accessible in package, both values are nil.

Examples:

(find-symbol "NEVER-BEFORE-USED") → NIL, NIL 
(find-symbol "NEVER-BEFORE-USED") → NIL, NIL 
(intern "NEVER-BEFORE-USED") → NEVER-BEFORE-USED, NIL 
(intern "NEVER-BEFORE-USED") → NEVER-BEFORE-USED, :INTERNAL 
(find-symbol "NEVER-BEFORE-USED") → NEVER-BEFORE-USED, :INTERNAL 
(find-symbol "never-before-used") → NIL, NIL 
(find-symbol "CAR" ’common-lisp-user) → CAR, :INHERITED 
(find-symbol "CAR" ’common-lisp) → CAR, :EXTERNAL 
(find-symbol "NIL" ’common-lisp-user) → NIL, :INHERITED 
(find-symbol "NIL" ’common-lisp) → NIL, :EXTERNAL 
(find-symbol "NIL" (prog1 (make-package "JUST-TESTING" :use ’()) 
		     (intern "NIL" "JUST-TESTING"))) 
→ JUST-TESTING::NIL, :INTERNAL 
(export ’just-testing::nil ’just-testing) 
(find-symbol "NIL" ’just-testing) → JUST-TESTING:NIL, :EXTERNAL 
(find-symbol "NIL" "KEYWORD") 
→ NIL, NIL 
<i><sup>or</sup>→</i> :NIL, :EXTERNAL 
(find-symbol (symbol-name :nil) "KEYWORD") → :NIL, :EXTERNAL

Affected By:

intern, import, export, use-package, unintern, unexport, unuse-package

See Also:

intern, find-all-symbols

Notes:

find-symbol is operationally equivalent to intern, except that it never creates a new symbol.

Expanded Reference: find-symbol​

tip

TODO: Please contribute to this page by adding explanations and examples

(find-symbol )