char-name (Function)

Syntax:

Arguments and Values:

character—a character.

name—a string or nil.

Description:

Returns a string that is the name of the character, or nil if the character has no name.

All non-graphic characters are required to have names unless they have some implementation-defined attribute which is not null. Whether or not other characters have names is implementation-dependent.

The standard characters <Newline> and <Space> have the respective names "Newline" and "Space". The semi-standard characters <Tab>, <Page>, <Rubout>, <Linefeed>, <Return>, and <Backspace>  (if they are supported by the implementation) have the respective names "Tab", "Page", "Rubout", "Linefeed", "Return", and "Backspace" (in the indicated case, even though name lookup by “#\” and by the function name-char is not case sensitive).

Examples:

 (char-name #\ ) → "Space"
 (char-name #\Space) → "Space"
 (char-name #\Page) → "Page"

 (char-name #\a)
→ NIL
or→ "LOWERCASE-a"
or→ "Small-A"
or→ "LA01"

 (char-name #\A)
→ NIL
or→ "UPPERCASE-A"
or→ "Capital-A"
or→ "LA02"

 ;; Even though its CHAR-NAME can vary, #\A prints as #\A
 (prin1-to-string (read-from-string (format nil "#\\~A" (or (char-name #\A) "A"))))
→ "#\\A"

Exceptional Situations:

Should signal an error of type type-error if character is not a character.

See Also:

name-char, Section 22.1.3.2 (Printing Characters)

Notes:

Non-graphic characters having names are written by the Lisp printer as “#\” followed by the their name; see Section 22.1.3.2 (Printing Characters).