Function Entry: CLAUTOLISP-DOCUMENTATION

clautolisp-documentation

Function

(clautolisp-documentation name)

• name: a symbol or a string naming the symbol. Strings are coerced to the symbol's uppercased name; symbols are used directly.

Returns the documentation string attached to the innermost binding cell for name in the current dynamic frame chain. Documentation is captured at read time: a ;| … |; block comment immediately preceding a (defun NAME …) or (setq NAME …) form becomes the binding's documentation when that form is evaluated.

Because clautolisp is dynamically scoped and the documentation lives on the binding cell (not the symbol), the result follows the same shadowing rules as value lookup: a /-local, lambda parameter, or foreach iteration variable that rebinds the name carries its own documentation slot that is restored when the rebinding frame is popped.

The doc-update rules differ between defun and setq. (defun NAME …) always rewrites the doc — installing the new block-comment text or nil when no block preceded. (setq NAME …) rewrites only conditionally: a preceding block installs the new text; without one, an existing function-doc (from an earlier defun) is cleared (the binding is no longer that function) but an existing variable-doc is preserved (plain mutation does not erase a variable's description).

A string when documentation has been recorded for the resolved binding; nil otherwise (no recorded doc, or no binding for name).

None.

• After ;| greet user |; (defun foo (n) (princ n)), (clautolisp-documentation 'foo) returns " greet user ".
• After (setq foo 42) following the above, (clautolisp-documentation 'foo) returns nil — the bare setq cleared the now-stale function-doc.
• After ;| counter |; (setq c 0) then (setq c (1+ c)), (clautolisp-documentation 'c) returns " counter " — plain mutation preserves a variable-doc.
• (clautolisp-documentation 'no-such-binding) returns nil.

• AutoCAD 2026: not documented.
• BricsCAD V26: not documented.
• clautolisp: implemented.
• Status: clautolisp-only extension; the AutoCAD / BricsCAD vendor surface offers no comparable per-binding documentation API.

• No vendor reference. Specified by the source-aware-defun-documentation issue in this repository; implemented in autolisp-builtins-core/source/api.lisp.