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Dotted Pair Notation

Dotted pair notation is a general syntax for cons cells that represents the CAR and CDR explicitly. In this syntax, (a . b) stands for a cons cell whose CAR is the object a and whose CDR is the object b. Dotted pair notation is more general than list syntax because the CDR does not have to be a list. However, it is more cumbersome in cases where list syntax would work. In dotted pair notation, the list ‘(1 2 3)’ is written as ‘(1 . (2 . (3 . nil)))’. For nil-terminated lists, you can use either notation, but list notation is usually clearer and more convenient. When printing a list, the dotted pair notation is only used if the CDR of a cons cell is not a list.

Here’s an example using boxes to illustrate dotted pair notation. This example shows the pair (rose . violet): 

    --- ---
-   |   |   |--> violet
-    --- ---
-     |
-     |
-      --> rose
-
-

You can combine dotted pair notation with list notation to represent conveniently a chain of cons cells with a non-nil final CDR. You write a dot after the last element of the list, followed by the CDR of the final cons cell. For example, (rose violet -. buttercup) is equivalent to (rose . (violet . buttercup)). The object looks like this: 

    --- ---      --- ---
-   |   |   |--> |   |   |--> buttercup
-    --- ---      --- ---
-     |            |
-     |            |
-      --> rose     --> violet
-
-

The syntax (rose . violet . buttercup) is invalid because there is nothing that it could mean. If anything, it would say to put buttercup in the CDR of a cons cell whose CDR is already used for violet.

The list (rose violet) is equivalent to (rose . (violet)), and looks like this: 

    --- ---      --- ---
-   |   |   |--> |   |   |--> nil
-    --- ---      --- ---
-     |            |
-     |            |
-      --> rose     --> violet
-
-

Similarly, the three-element list (rose violet buttercup) is equivalent to (rose . (violet . (buttercup))). It looks like this: 

    --- ---      --- ---      --- ---
-   |   |   |--> |   |   |--> |   |   |--> nil
-    --- ---      --- ---      --- ---
-     |            |            |
-     |            |            |
-      --> rose     --> violet   --> buttercup
-
-

As a somewhat peculiar side effect of (a b . c) and (a . (b . c)) being equivalent, for consistency this means that if you replace b here with the empty sequence, then it follows that (a . c) and (a . ( . c)) are equivalent, too. This also means that ( . c) is equivalent to c, but this is seldom used.

-

- Copyright © 1990-1996, 1998-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU GPL license.
- https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Dotted-Pair-Notation.html -

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