clisp(1) m[blue]ANSIm[][38] m[blue]Common Lispm[][1] compiler, interpreter and debugger.

SYNOPSIS

clisp [[-h] | [--help]] [--version] [--license] [-help-image] [-B lisp-lib-dir] [-b] [-K linking-set] [-M mem-file] [-m memory-size] [-L language] [-N locale-dir] [-Edomain encoding] [[-q] | [--quiet] | [--silent] | [-v] | [--verbose]] [-on-error action] [-repl] [-w] [-I] [-disable-readline] [[-ansi] | [-traditional]] [-modern] [-p package] [-C] [-norc] [-lp directory...] [-i init-file...] [-c [-llisp-file [-o output-file]...] [-x expressions...] [lisp-file [argument...]]

DESCRIPTION

Invokes the m[blue]Common Lispm[][1] interpreter and compiler.

Interactive Mode

When called without arguments, executes the m[blue]read-eval-print loopm[][2], in which expressions are in turn

• m[blue]READm[][3] from the standard input,

• m[blue]EVALm[][4]uated by the lisp interpreter,

• and their results are m[blue]PRINTm[][5]ed to the standard output.

Non-Interactive (Batch) Mode

Invoked with -c, compiles the specified lisp files to a platform-independent bytecode which can be executed more efficiently.

Invoked with -x, executes the specified lisp expressions.

Invoked with lisp-file, runs the specified lisp file.

OPTIONS

-h
--help

Displays a help message on how to invoke m[blue]CLISPm[][6].

--version

Displays the m[blue]CLISPm[][6] version number, as given by the function m[blue]LISP-IMPLEMENTATION-VERSIONm[][7], the value of the variable *FEATURES*, as well some other information.

--license

Displays a summary of the licensing information, the m[blue]GNUm[][8] m[blue]GPLm[][9].

-help-image

Displays information about the memory image being invoked: whether is it suitable for scripting as well as the :DOCUMENTATION supplied to EXT:SAVEINITMEM.

-B lisp-lib-dir

Specifies the installation directory. This is the directory containing the linking sets and other data files. This option is normally not necessary, because the installation directory is already built-in into the clisp executable. Directory lisp-lib-dir can be changed dynamically using the m[blue]SYMBOL-MACROm[][10] CUSTOM:*LIB-DIRECTORY*.

-b

Print the installation directory and exit immediately. The namestring of CUSTOM:*LIB-DIRECTORY* is printed without any quotes. This is mostly useful in module Makefiles, see, e.g., modules/syscalls/Makefile.in (file in the CLISP sources).

-K linking-set

Specifies the linking set to be run. This is a directory (relative to the lisp-lib-dir) containing at least a main executable (runtime) and an initial memory image. Possible values are

base

the core m[blue]CLISPm[][6]

full

core plus all the modules with which this installation was built, see Section 32.2, "External Modules".

The default is base.

-M mem-file

Specifies the initial memory image. This must be a memory dump produced by the EXT:SAVEINITMEM function by this clisp runtime. It may have been compressed using m[blue]GNUm[][8] m[blue]gzipm[][11].

-m memory-size

Sets the amount of memory m[blue]CLISPm[][6] tries to grab on startup. The amount may be given as

n
nB

measured in bytes

n
nW

measured in machine words (4×n on 32-bit platforms, 8×n on 64-bit platforms)

nK
nKB

measured in kilobytes

nKW

measured in kilowords

nM
nMB

measured in megabytes

nMW

measured in megawords

The default is 3 megabytes. The argument is constrained above 100 KB.

This version of m[blue]CLISPm[][6] is not likely to actually use the entire memory-size since garbage-collection will periodically reduce the amount of used memory. It is therefore common to specify 10 MB even if only 2 MB are going to be used.

-L language

Specifies the language m[blue]CLISPm[][6] uses to communicate with the user. This may be one of english, german, french, spanish, dutch, russian, danish. Other languages may be specified through the m[blue]environment variablem[][12] LANG, provided the corresponding message catalog is installed. The language may be changed dynamically using the m[blue]SYMBOL-MACROm[][10] CUSTOM:*CURRENT-LANGUAGE*.

-N locale-dir

Specifies the base directory of locale files. m[blue]CLISPm[][6] will search its message catalogs in locale-dir/language/LC_MESSAGES/clisp.mo. This directory may be changed dynamically using the m[blue]SYMBOL-MACROm[][10] CUSTOM:*CURRENT-LANGUAGE*.

-Edomain encoding

Specifies the encoding used for the given domain, overriding the default which depends on the m[blue]environment variablem[][12]s LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LANG. domain can be

file

affecting CUSTOM:*DEFAULT-FILE-ENCODING*

pathname

affecting CUSTOM:*PATHNAME-ENCODING*

terminal

affecting CUSTOM:*TERMINAL-ENCODING*

foreign

affecting CUSTOM:*FOREIGN-ENCODING*

misc

affecting CUSTOM:*MISC-ENCODING*

blank

affecting all of the above.


Warning
Note that the values of these m[blue]SYMBOL-MACROm[][10]s that have been saved in a memory image are ignored: these m[blue]SYMBOL-MACROm[][10]s are reset based on the OS environment after the memory image is loaded. You have to use the RC file, CUSTOM:*INIT-HOOKS* or init function to set them on startup, but it is best to set the aforementioned m[blue]environment variablem[][12]s appropriately for consistency with other programs. See Section 31.1, "Customizing CLISP Process Initialization and Termination".

-q
--quiet
--silent
-v
--verbose

Change verbosity level: by default, m[blue]CLISPm[][6] displays a banner at startup and a good-bye message when quitting, and initializes m[blue]*LOAD-VERBOSE*m[][13] and m[blue]*COMPILE-VERBOSE*m[][14] to m[blue]Tm[][15], and m[blue]*LOAD-PRINT*m[][13] and m[blue]*COMPILE-PRINT*m[][14] to m[blue]NILm[][16], as per [ANSI CL standard]. The first -q removes the banner and the good-bye message, the second sets variables m[blue]*LOAD-VERBOSE*m[][13], m[blue]*COMPILE-VERBOSE*m[][14] and CUSTOM:*SAVEINITMEM-VERBOSE* to m[blue]NILm[][16]. The first -v sets variables CUSTOM:*REPORT-ERROR-PRINT-BACKTRACE*, m[blue]*LOAD-PRINT*m[][13] and m[blue]*COMPILE-PRINT*m[][14] to m[blue]Tm[][15], the second sets CUSTOM:*LOAD-ECHO* to m[blue]Tm[][15]. These settings affect the output produced by -i and -c options. Note that these settings persist into the m[blue]read-eval-print loopm[][2]. Repeated -q and -v cancel each other, e.g., -q -q -v -v -v is equivalent to -v.

-on-error action

Establish global error handlers, depending on action:.PP appease
m[blue]continuablem[][17] m[blue]ERRORm[][18]s are turned into m[blue]WARNINGm[][19]s (with EXT:APPEASE-CERRORS) other m[blue]ERRORm[][18]s are handled in the default way

debug

m[blue]ERRORm[][18]s m[blue]INVOKE-DEBUGGERm[][20] (the normal m[blue]read-eval-print loopm[][2] behavior), disables batch mode imposed by -c, -x, and lisp-file,

abort

m[blue]continuablem[][17] m[blue]ERRORm[][18]s are appeased, other m[blue]ERRORm[][18]s are m[blue]ABORTm[][21]ed with EXT:ABORT-ON-ERROR

exit

m[blue]continuablem[][17] m[blue]ERRORm[][18]s are appeased, other m[blue]ERRORm[][18]s terminate m[blue]CLISPm[][6] with EXT:EXIT-ON-ERROR (the normal batch mode behavior).

See also EXT:SET-GLOBAL-HANDLER.

-repl

Start an interactive m[blue]read-eval-print loopm[][2] after processing the -c, -x, and lisp-file options and on any m[blue]ERRORm[][18] m[blue]SIGNALm[][22]ed during that processing.

Disables batch mode.

-w

Wait for a keypress after program termination.

-I

Interact better with m[blue]Emacsm[][23] (useful when running m[blue]CLISPm[][6] under m[blue]Emacsm[][23] using m[blue]SLIMEm[][24], m[blue]ILISPm[][25] et al). With this option, m[blue]CLISPm[][6] interacts in a way that m[blue]Emacsm[][23] can deal with:

• unnecessary prompts are not suppressed.

• The m[blue]GNUm[][8] m[blue]readlinem[][26] library treats TAB (see TAB key) as a normal self-inserting character (see Q: A.4.6).

-disable-readline

Do not use m[blue]GNUm[][8] m[blue]readlinem[][26] even when it has been linked against. This can be used if one wants to paste non-m[blue]ASCIIm[][27] characters, or when m[blue]GNUm[][8] m[blue]readlinem[][26] misbehaves due to installation (different versions on the build and install machines) or setup (bad TERM m[blue]environment variablem[][12] value) issues.

-ansi

Comply with the [ANSI CL standard] specification even where m[blue]CLISPm[][6] has been traditionally different by setting the m[blue]SYMBOL-MACROm[][10] CUSTOM:*ANSI* to m[blue]Tm[][15].

-traditional

Traditional: reverses the residual effects of -ansi in the saved memory image.

-modern

Provides a modern view of symbols: at startup the m[blue]*PACKAGE*m[][28] variable will be set to the "CS-COMMON-LISP-USER" package, and the m[blue]*PRINT-CASE*m[][29] will be set to :DOWNCASE. This has the effect that symbol lookup is case-sensitive (except for keywords and old-style packages) and that keywords and uninterned symbols are printed with lower-case preferrence. See Section 11.5, "Package Case-Sensitivity".

-p package

At startup the value of the variable m[blue]*PACKAGE*m[][28] will be set to the package named package. The default is the value of m[blue]*PACKAGE*m[][28] when the image was saved, normally m[blue]"COMMON-LISP-USER"m[][30].

-C

Compile when loading: at startup the value of the variable CUSTOM:*LOAD-COMPILING* will be set to m[blue]Tm[][15]. Code being m[blue]LOADm[][31]ed will then be m[blue]COMPILEm[][32]d on the fly. This results in slower loading, but faster execution.

-norc

Normally m[blue]CLISPm[][6] loads the user m[blue]"run control" (RC)m[][33] file on startup (this happens after the -C option is processed). The file loaded is .clisprc.lisp or .clisprc.fas in the home directory m[blue]USER-HOMEDIR-PATHNAMEm[][34], whichever is newer. This option, -norc, prevents loading of the RC file.

-lp directory

Specifies directories to be added to CUSTOM:*LOAD-PATHS* at startup. This is done after loading the RC file (so that it does not override the command-line option) but before loading the init-files specified by the -i options (so that the init-files will be searched for in the specified directories). Several -lp options can be given; all the specified directories will be added.

-i init-file

Specifies initialization files to be m[blue]LOADm[][31]ed at startup. These should be lisp files (source or compiled). Several -i options can be given; all the specified files will be loaded in order.

-c lisp-file

Compiles the specified lisp-files to bytecode (*.fas). The compiled files can then be m[blue]LOADm[][31]ed instead of the sources to gain efficiency.

Imposes batch mode.

-o outputfile

Specifies the output file or directory for the compilation of the last specified lisp-file.

-l

Produce a bytecode m[blue]DISASSEMBLEm[][35] listing (*.lis) of the files being compiled. Useful only for debugging. See Section 24.1, "Function COMPILE-FILE" for details.

-x expressions

Executes a series of arbitrary expressions instead of a m[blue]read-eval-print loopm[][2]. The values of the expressions will be output to m[blue]*STANDARD-OUTPUT*m[][36]. Due to the argument processing done by the shell, the expressions must be enclosed in double quotes, and double quotes and backslashes must be escaped with backslashes.

Imposes batch mode.

lisp-file [ argument ... ]

Loads and executes a lisp-file, as described in Section 32.6.2, "Scripting with CLISP". There will be no m[blue]read-eval-print loopm[][2]. Before lisp-file is loaded, the variable EXT:*ARGS* will be bound to a list of strings, representing the arguments. The first line of lisp-file may start with #!, thus permitting m[blue]CLISPm[][6] to be used as a script interpreter. If lisp-file is -, the m[blue]*STANDARD-INPUT*m[][36] is used instead of a file.

This option is disabled if the memory image was created by EXT:SAVEINITMEM with m[blue]NILm[][16] :SCRIPT argument. In that case the m[blue]LISTm[][37] EXT:*ARGS* starts with lisp-file.

This option must be the last one.

No RC file will be executed.

Imposes batch mode.

As usual, -- stops option processing and places all remaining command line arguments into EXT:*ARGS*.

LANGUAGE REFERENCE

The language implemented is m[blue]ANSI[39]m[][38] m[blue]Common Lispm[][1]. The implementation mostly conforms to the ANSI Common Lisp standard, see Section 31.10, "Maximum ANSI CL compliance". [ANSI CL] ANSI CL standard1994. ANSI INCITS 226-1994 (R1999)
    m[blue]Information Technology - Programming Language - Common Lispm[][40]
    [formerly ANSI X3.226-1994 (R1999)]. 

COMMAND LINE USER ENVIRONMENT

help

get context-sensitive on-line help, see Chapter 25, Environment.

(APROPOS name)

list the m[blue]SYMBOLm[][41]s matching name.

(DESCRIBE symbol)

describe the symbol.

(exit)
(quit)
(bye)

quit m[blue]CLISPm[][6].

EOF (Control+D on m[blue]UNIXm[][42])

leave the current level of the m[blue]read-eval-print loopm[][2] (see also Section 1.1, "Special Symbols ").

arrow keys

for editing and viewing the input history, using the m[blue]GNUm[][8] m[blue]readlinem[][26] library.

TAB key

Context sensitive:

• If you are in the "function position" (in the first symbol after an opening paren or in the first symbol after a m[blue]#'m[][44]), the completion is limited to the symbols that name functions.

• If you are in the "filename position" (inside a string after m[blue]#Pm[][45]), the completion is done across file names, m[blue]GNUm[][8] m[blue]bashm[][46]-style.

• If you have not typed anything yet, you will get a help message, as if by the help command.

• If you have not started typing the next symbol (i.e., you are at a whitespace), the current function or macro is DESCRIBEd.

• Otherwise, the symbol you are currently typing is completed.

USING AND EXTENDING CLISP

m[blue]Common Lispm[][1] is a programmable programming language. ---m[blue]John Foderarom[][47].PP When m[blue]CLISPm[][6] is invoked, the runtime loads the initial memory image and outputs the prompt; at which one can start typing m[blue]DEFVARm[][48]s, m[blue]DEFUNm[][49]s and m[blue]DEFMACROm[][50]s.

To avoid having to re-enter the same definitions by hand in every session, one can create a lisp file with all the variables, functions, macros, etc.; (optionally) compile it with m[blue]COMPILE-FILEm[][51]; and m[blue]LOADm[][31] it either by hand or from the RC file; or save a memory image to avoid the m[blue]LOADm[][31] overhead.

However, sometimes one needs to use some functionality implemented in another language, e.g., call a m[blue]Cm[][52] library function. For that one uses the Foreign Function Interface and/or the External Modules facility. Finally, the truly adventurous ones might delve into Extending the Core.

FILES

clisp
clisp.exe

startup driver (an executable or, rarely, a shell script) which remembers the location of the runtime and starts it with the appropriate arguments

lisp.run
lisp.exe

main executable (runtime) - the part of m[blue]CLISPm[][6] implemented in m[blue]Cm[][52].

lispinit.mem

initial memory image (the part of m[blue]CLISPm[][6] implemented in lisp)

config.lisp

site-dependent configuration (should have been customized before m[blue]CLISPm[][6] was built); see Section 31.12, "Customizing CLISP behavior"

*.lisp

lisp source

*.fas

lisp code, compiled by m[blue]CLISPm[][6]

*.lib

lisp source library information, generated by COMPILE-FILE, see Section 24.3, "Function REQUIRE".

*.c

C code, compiled from lisp source by m[blue]CLISPm[][6] (see Section 32.3, "The Foreign Function Call Facility")

For the m[blue]CLISPm[][6] source files, see Chapter 34, The source files of CLISP.

INPUT AND OUTUT

See Section 21.1.1, "Initialization of Standard Streams".

BUGS

When you encounter a bug in m[blue]CLISPm[][6] or in its documentation (this manual page or CLISP impnotes), please report it to the m[blue]CLISPm[][6] m[blue]SourceForge bug trackerm[][56].

Before submitting a bug report, please take the following basic steps to make the report more useful:

1. Please do a clean build (remove your build directory and build m[blue]CLISPm[][6] with ./configure --cbc build or at least do a make distclean before make).

2. If you are reporting a "hard crash" (segmentation fault, bus error, core dump etc), please do ./configure --with-debug --cbc build-g ; cd build-g; gdb lisp.run, then load the appropriate linking set by either base or full m[blue]gdbm[][57] command, and report the backtrace (see also Q: A.1.1.10).

3. If you are using pre-built binaries and experience a hard crash, the problem is likely to be in the incompatibilities between the platform on which the binary was built and yours; please try compiling the sources and report the problem if it persists.

When submitting a bug report, please specify the following information:

1. What is your platform (uname -a on a m[blue]UNIXm[][42] system)? Compiler version? m[blue]GNUm[][8] m[blue]libcm[][58] version (on m[blue]GNUm[][8]/m[blue]Linuxm[][59])?

2. Where did you get the sources or binaries? When? (Absolute dates, e.g., "2006-01-17", are preferred over the relative ones, e.g., "2 days ago").

3. How did you build m[blue]CLISPm[][6]? (What command, options &c.)

4. What is the output of clisp --version?

5. Please supply the full output (copy and paste) of all the error messages, as well as detailed instructions on how to reproduce them.

PROJECTS

• Enhance the compiler so that it can inline local functions.

• Embed m[blue]CLISPm[][6] in m[blue]VIMm[][60].

AUTHORS

Bruno Haible <m[blue]http://www.haible.de/bruno/m[]>

The original author and long-time maintainer.

Michael Stoll <m[blue]http://www.faculty.iu-bremen.de/mstoll/m[]>

The original author.

Sam Steingold <m[blue]http://sds.podval.org/m[]>

Co-maintainer since 1998.

Others

See COPYRIGHT (file in the CLISP sources) for the list of other contributors and the license.

COPYRIGHT


Copyright © 1992-2010 Bruno Haible
Copyright © 1998-2010 Sam Steingold

NOTES

1.
Common Lisp
http://www.lisp.org
2.
read-eval-print loop
[set $man.base.url.for.relative.links]/sec_25-1-1
3.
READ
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_readcm_re_g-whitespace.html
4.
EVAL
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_eval.html
5.
PRINT
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_writecm_p_rintcm_princ.html
6.
CLISP
http://clisp.cons.org
7.
LISP-IMPLEMENTATION-VERSION
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_lisp-impl_tion-version.html
8.
GNU
http://www.gnu.org
9.
GPL
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
10.
SYMBOL-MACRO
[set $man.base.url.for.relative.links]/mac_define-symbol-macro
11.
gzip
http://www.gzip.org/
12.
environment variable
[set $man.base.url.for.relative.links]/basedefs/xbd_chap08.html
13.
*LOAD-VERBOSE*
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/var_stload-pr_ad-verbosest.html
14.
*COMPILE-VERBOSE*
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/var_stcompile_le-verbosest.html
15.
T
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/convar_t.html
16.
NIL
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/convar_nil.html
17.
continuable
[set $man.base.url.for.relative.links]/clhs/glo
18.
ERROR
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/contyp_error.html
19.
WARNING
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/contyp_warning.html
20.
INVOKE-DEBUGGER
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_invoke-debugger.html
21.
ABORT
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_abortcm_c_cm_use-value.html
22.
SIGNAL
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_signal.html
23.
Emacs
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
24.
SLIME
http://common-lisp.net/project/slime/
25.
ILISP
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ilisp/
26.
readline
http://tiswww.case.edu/php/chet/readline/readline.html
27.
ASCII
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII
28.
*PACKAGE*
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/var_stpackagest.html
29.
*PRINT-CASE*
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/var_stprint-casest.html
30.
"COMMON-LISP-USER"
[set $man.base.url.for.relative.links]/sec_11-1-2-2
31.
LOAD
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_load.html
32.
COMPILE
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_compile.html
33.
"run
     control" (RC)
http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch10s03.html
34.
USER-HOMEDIR-PATHNAME
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_user-homedir-pathname.html
35.
DISASSEMBLE
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_disassemble.html
36.
*STANDARD-OUTPUT*
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/var_stdebug-i_ace-outputst.html
37.
LIST
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/syscla_list.html
38.
ANSI
http://www.ansi.org/
39.
The American National Standards Institute
40.
Information Technology - Programming Language - Common Lisp
http://webstore.ansi.org/RecordDetail.aspx?sku=ANSI+INCITS+226-1994+(R1999)
41.
SYMBOL
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/syscla_symbol.html
42.
UNIX
http://www.unix.org/online.html
43.
Win32
http://winehq.org/
44.
#'
[set $man.base.url.for.relative.links]/sec_2-4-8-2
45.
#P
[set $man.base.url.for.relative.links]/sec_2-4-8-14
46.
bash
http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/
47.
John Foderaro
http://www.franz.com/~jkf/
48.
DEFVAR
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/mac_defparametercm_defvar.html
49.
DEFUN
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/mac_defun.html
50.
DEFMACRO
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/mac_defmacro.html
51.
COMPILE-FILE
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_compile-file.html
52.
C
http://c-faq.com/
53.
SHORT-SITE-NAME
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/CommonLISP/HyperSpec/Body/fun_short-sit_ng-site-name.html
54.
CMU CL
http://www.cons.org/cmucl/
55.
XEmacs
http://www.xemacs.org
56.
SourceForge bug tracker
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=add&group_id=1355&atid=101355
57.
gdb
http://sources.redhat.com/gdb/
58.
libc
http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/
59.
Linux
http://www.linux.org/
60.
VIM
http://www.vim.org