Mark Wooding  <mdw@distorted.org.uk> wrote:
+---------------
| rpw3@rpw3.org (Rob Warnock) writes:
| >    #:with-output-to-file	; Save typing in the most common output case.
| 
| I have a SAFELY-WRITING macro which opens a stream onto a fresh file
| (using :IF-EXISTS NIL), and either renames the file into place on
| successful completion or deletes it on failure.  It's based on a more
| complicated infrastructure of stuff which handles multiple files and
| other operations such as file deletion.
+---------------

Mine does the opposite extreme of "safety": it unconditionally
writes over the file whether or not it exists [unless you supply
a different explicit :IF-EXISTS]:

(defmacro with-output-to-file ((stream filename
                                &key (direction :output) (if-exists :supersede)
                                &rest rest &allow-other-keys)
                               &body body)
  `(with-open-file (,stream ,filename
                    :direction ,direction :if-exists ,if-exists ,@rest)
    ,@body))

+---------------
| >    #:stringify		; Coerce items in atom/list/tree to strings.
| 
| I have a function with this name, but it's simpler:
|         (defun stringify (thing)
|           (typecase thing
|             (string thing)
|             (symbol (symbol-name thing))
|             (t (princ-to-string thing))))
+---------------

Mine translates NIL to "", rather than "NIL", mainly because
of what I tend to use it for [building web pages & other docs].


-Rob

-----
Rob Warnock			<rpw3@rpw3.org>
627 26th Avenue			<URL:http://rpw3.org/>
San Mateo, CA 94403		(650)572-2607