How to see docstrings and other symbol information in Common Lisp REPL?

Question

I\'m completely new to CL, and I\'d like to learn how to read documentation strings and get other help information from the REPL. Something like help(symbol) in

Answer 1

Regarding your question about getting the type of symbol: there is no such thing. Or, more precisely, symbols are not just names of other objects, but themselves objects of the type SYMBOL. Each symbol can have both a variable value and a function value. To check if it has a variable value, use BOUNDP, and to check for a function value FBOUNDP.

Answer 2

As mentioned Common Lisp has standard functions: DESCRIBE, INSPECT and DOCUMENTATION. Typical Lisp IDEs also have these bound to keys and menus.

For standard Common Lisp functionality most IDEs directly link to the Common Lisp HyperSpec documentation with a keystroke.

Most IDEs also have keystrokes to show the arglist and the documentation. There is also the 'arglist on space' functionality.

LispWorks specific examples: LispWorks Argument list information and LispWorks Expressions menu

I can recommend to read the IDE manual for Slime, LispWorks Editor, Allegro CL's ELI, or whatever IDE you are using.