cond

Type:	-	special form (fsubr)
Source:	-	xlcont.c

Syntax

(cond [(pred1 expr1) [(pred2 expr2) ... ]])

predN - a predicate (NIL / non-NIL) expression
exprN - an expression
returns - the value of the first expression whose predicate is non-NIL

Description

The 'cond' special form evaluates a series of predicate / expression pairs. 'cond' will evaluate each predicate in sequential order until it finds one that returns a non-NIL value. The expression that is associated with the non-NIL value is evaluated. The resulting value of the evaluated expression is returned by 'cond'. If there are no predicates that return a non-NIL value, NIL is returned by 'cond'. Only one expression is evaluated, the first one with a non-NIL predicate. Note that the predicate can be a symbol or expression.

Examples

(cond                                       ; sample CONDitional
  ((not T) (print "this won't print"))
  ( NIL    (print "neither will this"))
  ( T      (print "this will print"))
  ( T      (print "won't get here")))       ; prints "this will print"

(defun print-what (parm)
  (cond                                     ; start of COND
    ((numberp parm) (print "numeric"))      ; check for number
    ((consp parm)   (print "list"))         ; check for list
    ((null parm)    (print "nil"))          ; check for NIL
    (T              (print "something"))))  ; catch-all

(print-what 'a)       ; prints "something"
(print-what 12)       ; prints "numeric"
(print-what NIL)      ; prints "nil"
(print-what '(a b))   ; prints "list"

See the cond special form in the XLISP 2.0 manual.

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