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5.1.2 nil and t

In librep there is a single data value representing boolean “false”—the empty list, written as (). All other values are considered “not-false”, i.e. “true”.

By convention the constants nil and t are used to represent the canonical boolean values. The constant variable nil evaluates to the empty list (i.e. “false”), while t evaluates to itself (i.e. not-“false”, therefore “true”).

Reiterating, all of the conditional operations regard anything which is not () as being true (i.e. non-false). The actual symbol t should be used where a true boolean value is explicitly stated, to increase the clarity of the code.

So, (), and its alias nil, represent both the empty list and boolean falsehood. Most Lisp programmers write () where its value as a list should be emphasized, and nil where its value as boolean false is intended. Although neither of these values need be quoted (see Quoting), most programmers will quote the empty list to emphasize that it is a constant value. However nil should not be quoted, doing so would produce the symbol nil, not boolean falsehood. For example:

(append '() '()) ⇒ ()          ;Emphasize use of empty lists

(not nil) ⇒ t                  ;Emphasize use as boolean false

(get 'nil 'color)               ;Use the symbol nil

When a function is said to “return false”, it means that it returns the false boolean value, i.e. the empty list. When a function is said to “return true”, this means that any non-false value is returned.


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