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<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<HTML LANG="en-us"
><HEAD
><TITLE
>describe | Common Lisp Nova Spec</TITLE
><META CHARSET="US-ASCII"
><LINK REL="canonical" HREF="f_describe.html"
><LINK REL="next" HREF="f_describe-object.html" TYPE="text/html" TITLE="describe-object"
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><LINK REL="up" HREF="25_2_Environment_Dictionary.html" TYPE="text/html" TITLE="25.2 Environment Dictionary"
><LINK REL="start" HREF="index.html" TYPE="text/html" TITLE="Common Lisp Nova Spec"
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><DIV
><DIV CLASS="topnav"
><DIV CLASS="breadcrumb"
><SPAN CLASS="breadcrumb-item"
><A HREF="index.html"
>Common Lisp Nova Spec</A
></SPAN
> <SPAN CLASS="breadcrumb-item"
>&#8594; <A HREF="25_Environment.html"
>25. Environment</A
></SPAN
> <SPAN CLASS="breadcrumb-item"
>&#8594; <A HREF="25_2_Environment_Dictionary.html"
>25.2 Environment Dictionary</A
></SPAN
> <SPAN CLASS="breadcrumb-item"
>&#8594; <A HREF="f_describe.html"
>describe</A
></SPAN
></DIV
><DIV CLASS="apropos"
><DIV CLASS="apropos-io"
><A HREF="f_apropos.html" CLASS="prev"
>&#8592;</A
><SPAN ID="apropos-label"
>Apropos </SPAN
><INPUT ID="apropos" AUTOFOCUS="AUTOFOCUS" PLACEHOLDER="Type here to search" ONINPUT="aproposInput(this);" ONKEYUP="aproposKeyup(event);" ONCHANGE="aproposChange(this);" ONFOCUS="aproposFocus(this);" ONFOCUSOUT="aproposFocusout(this);"
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><DIV CLASS="matter"
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><DIV CLASS="begincom"
><HR
><TABLE WIDTH="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0"
><TR
><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="BASELINE" WIDTH="100%" CLASS="name"
><SPAN CLASS="idx" DATA-KIND="idxref" DATA-TERM="describe"
></SPAN
><B
>describe</B
></TD
><TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="BASELINE" WIDTH="0" NOWRAP="NOWRAP" CLASS="ftype"
><I
>Function</I
></TD
></TR
></TABLE
><HR
></DIV
><UL CLASS="subtoc"
></UL
><DL
><DT
><B
>Syntax</B
></DT
><DD
><P CLASS="j"
><B
>describe</B
> <SPAN CLASS="cmssi"
>object</SPAN
> <SPAN CLASS="cmtt"
>&amp;optional</SPAN
> <SPAN CLASS="cmssi"
>stream</SPAN
> <SPAN CLASS="arrow"
>&#8594;</SPAN
> &#10216;<I
>no</I
> <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#value"
><EM CLASS="term"
>values</EM
></A
>&#10217;</P
></DD
><DT
><B
>Arguments and Values</B
></DT
><DD
><P CLASS="j"
><VAR CLASS="param"
>object</VAR
> &#8212; an <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#object"
><EM CLASS="term"
>object</EM
></A
>. </P
><P CLASS="j"
><VAR CLASS="param"
>stream</VAR
> &#8212; an <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#output"
><EM CLASS="term"
>output</EM
></A
> <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#stream_designator"
><EM CLASS="term"
>stream designator</EM
></A
>. The default is <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#standard_output"
><EM CLASS="term"
>standard output</EM
></A
>.</P
></DD
><DT
><B
>Description</B
></DT
><DD
><P CLASS="j"
><A HREF="f_describe.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe</B
></A
> displays information about <VAR CLASS="param"
>object</VAR
> to <VAR CLASS="param"
>stream</VAR
>. </P
><P CLASS="j"
>For example, <A HREF="f_describe.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe</B
></A
> of a <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#symbol"
><EM CLASS="term"
>symbol</EM
></A
> might show the <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#symbol"
><EM CLASS="term"
>symbol</EM
></A
>&#8217;s value, its definition, and each of its properties. <A HREF="f_describe.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe</B
></A
> of a <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#float"
><EM CLASS="term"
>float</EM
></A
> might show the number&#8217;s internal representation in a way that is useful for tracking down round-off errors. In all cases, however, the nature and format of the output of <A HREF="f_describe.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe</B
></A
> is <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#implementation-dependent"
><EM CLASS="term"
>implementation-dependent</EM
></A
>. </P
><P CLASS="j"
><A HREF="f_describe.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe</B
></A
> can describe something that it finds inside the <VAR CLASS="param"
>object</VAR
>; in such cases, a notational device such as increased indentation or positioning in a table is typically used in order to visually distinguish such recursive descriptions from descriptions of the argument <VAR CLASS="param"
>object</VAR
>. </P
><P CLASS="j"
>The actual act of describing the object is implemented by <A HREF="f_describe-object.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe-object</B
></A
>. <A HREF="f_describe.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe</B
></A
> exists as an interface primarily to manage argument defaulting (including conversion of arguments <SPAN CLASS="misc"
><B
>t</B
></SPAN
> and <SPAN CLASS="misc"
><B
>nil</B
></SPAN
> into <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#stream"
><EM CLASS="term"
>stream</EM
></A
> <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#object"
><EM CLASS="term"
>objects</EM
></A
>) and to inhibit any return values from <A HREF="f_describe-object.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe-object</B
></A
>. </P
><P CLASS="j"
><A HREF="f_describe.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe</B
></A
> is not intended to be an interactive function. In a <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#conforming_implementation"
><EM CLASS="term"
>conforming implementation</EM
></A
>, <A HREF="f_describe.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe</B
></A
> must not, by default, prompt for user input. User-defined methods for <A HREF="f_describe-object.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe-object</B
></A
> are likewise restricted.</P
></DD
><DT
><B
>Side Effects</B
></DT
><DD
><P CLASS="j"
>Output to <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#standard_output"
><EM CLASS="term"
>standard output</EM
></A
> or <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#terminal_I_dashO"
><EM CLASS="term"
>terminal I/O</EM
></A
>.</P
></DD
><DT
><B
>Affected By</B
></DT
><DD
><P CLASS="j"
><A HREF="v_debug-io.html" CLASS="varref"
><B
>*standard-output*</B
></A
> and <A HREF="v_terminal-io.html" CLASS="varref"
><B
>*terminal-io*</B
></A
>, methods on <A HREF="f_describe-object.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe-object</B
></A
> and <A HREF="f_print-object.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>print-object</B
></A
> for <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#object"
><EM CLASS="term"
>objects</EM
></A
> having user-defined <A HREF="26_1_Glossary.html#class"
><EM CLASS="term"
>classes</EM
></A
>.</P
></DD
><DT
><B
>See Also</B
></DT
><DD
><P CLASS="j"
><A HREF="f_inspect.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>inspect</B
></A
>, <A HREF="f_describe-object.html" CLASS="funref"
><B
>describe-object</B
></A
></P
></DD
></DL
></DIV
></DIV
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