Re: Question on converting string to symbol

Subject: Re: Question on converting string to symbol
From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no>
Date: 2000/06/22
Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp
Message-ID: <3170667252754195@naggum.no>

* Jaap Weel
| Just a little question. If it's a stupid one, please point to the
| appropriate chapter in CLtL2.

  As others have pointed out, too: CLtL2 is superseded by the actual
  standard, which I prefer to call CLtS, but that's informal at best.

| I can convert symbols to strings:
| (string 'abcd) => "abcd"
| I'd like to do the reverse now.
| (string-to-symbol "abcd") => ABCD

  For hysterical raisons, symbol names in Common Lisp are in uppercase
  and the Lisp reader is case insensitive, which throws most people's
  expectations off.  The symbol named "abcd" prints as |abcd|, and the
  symbol named "ABCD" prints as abcd if you have set *print-case* to
  :downcase, which many do.  In any case, reading abcd yields the
  symbol named "ABCD".  (eq 'abcd (intern "ABCD")) holds for all abcd.

#:Erik
-- 
  If this is not what you expected, please alter your expectations.