How to sum a list of numbers in Emacs Lisp?

Question

This works:

(+ 1 2 3)
6

This doesn\'t work:

(+ \'(1 2 3))

This works if \'cl-*\' is loaded:

Answer 1

Linearly recursive function (sum L)

;;
;; sum
;;
(defun sum(list)    
    (if (null list)
        0

        (+ 
            (first list) 
            (sum (rest list))
        )   
    )   
)

Answer 2

If you manipulate lists and write functional code in Emacs, install dash.el library. Then you could use its -sum function:

(-sum '(1 2 3 4 5)) ; => 15

Answer 3

This ought to do the trick:

(defun sum-list (list)
  (if list
      (+ (car list) (sum-list (cdr list)))
    0))

[source]

Edit: Here is another good link that explains car and cdr - basically they are functions that allow you to grab the first element of a list and retrieve a new list sans the first item.

Answer 4

You can define your custom function to calculate the sum of a list passed to it.

(defun sum (lst) (format t "The sum is ~s~%" (write-to-string (apply '+ lst))) 
EVAL: (sum '(1 4 6 4))
-> The sum is "15"

Answer 5

(insert (number-to-string (apply '+ '(1 2 3))))

Answer 6

(apply '+ '(1 2 3))