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  ANSI Common Lisp   3 Evaluation and Compilation   3.8 Dictionary Evaluation and Compilation

3.8.7 quote Special Operator

Syntax:
quote object    object

Arguments and Values:
object - an object; not evaluated.

Description:
The quote special operator just returns object.

The consequences are undefined if literal objects (including quoted objects) are destructively modified.

Examples:
 (setq a 1)  1
 (quote (setq a 3))  (SETQ A 3)
 a  1
 'a   A
 "a  (QUOTE A) 
 "'a  (QUOTE (QUOTE A))
 (setq a 43)  43
 (list a (cons a 3))  (43 (43 . 3))
 (list (quote a) (quote (cons a 3)))  (A (CONS A 3)) 
 1  1
 '1  1
 "foo"  "foo"
 '"foo"  "foo"
 (car '(a b))   A
 '(car '(a b))  (CAR (QUOTE (A B)))
 #(car '(a b))  #(CAR (QUOTE (A B)))
 '#(car '(a b))  #(CAR (QUOTE (A B)))

See Also:
Section 3.1 Evaluation, Section 2.4.3 Single-Quote, Section 3.2.1 Compiler Terminology

Notes:
The textual notation 'object is equivalent to (quote object); see Section 3.2.1 Compiler Terminology.

Some objects, called self-evaluating objects, do not require quotation by quote. However, symbols and lists are used to represent parts of programs, and so would not be useable as constant data in a program without quote. Since quote suppresses the evaluation of these objects, they become data rather than program.

Allegro CL Implementation Details:
None.

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