The next arg should be a character; it is printed according to the modifier flags.
~C prints the character
as if by using write-char if it is a simple character.
Characters that are not simple
are not necessarily printed as if by write-char,
but are displayed in an implementation-defined, abbreviated format.
For example,
(format nil "~C" #\A) → "A" (format nil "~C" #\Space) → " "
~:C is the same as ~C for printing characters,
but other characters are “spelled out.” The intent is that this
is a “pretty” format for printing characters.
For simple characters that are not printing,
what is spelled out is the name of the character (see char-name).
For characters that are not simple and not printing,
what is spelled out is implementation-defined.
For example,
(format nil "~:C" #\A) → "A" (format nil "~:C" #\Space) → "Space" ;; This next example assumes an implementation-defined "Control" attribute. (format nil "~:C" #\Control-Space) → "Control-Space" or→ "c-Space"
~:@C prints what ~:C would, and then
if the character requires unusual shift keys on the keyboard to type it,
this fact is mentioned. For example,
(format nil "~:@C" #\Control-Partial) → "Control-∂ (Top-F)"
This is the format used for telling the user about a key he is expected to type, in prompts, for instance. The precise output may depend not only on the implementation, but on the particular I/O devices in use.
~@C
prints the character in a way that the Lisp reader can understand,
using #\ syntax.
~@C binds *print-escape* to t.
This outputs a #\Newline character, thereby terminating the current
output line and beginning a new one.
~n% outputs n newlines.
No arg is used.
Unless it can be determined that the output stream
is already at the beginning of a line,
this outputs a newline.
~n& calls fresh-line
and then outputs n− 1 newlines.
~0& does nothing.
This outputs a page separator character, if possible.
~n| does this n times.