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Are there any commands that echo all subsequent lisp commands to stdout?

I'm looking for something similar to bash -x but for some lisp interpreter (or some flavor of lisp, in particular GNU Common Lisp).

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  • Can you clarify a bit? When you say Lisp commands, do you mean things that you're typing at the REPL (read-eval-print-loop) interactively? It's not quite an answer, but the last evaluated form is stored in the variable +, and that might help implement this functionality if it doesn't already exist. Commented Oct 4, 2013 at 17:47
  • What now? GNU Common Lisp, or CLISP? You mention GNU Common Lisp in the question, but tag the question CLISP (which is another implementation of Common Lisp). Commented Oct 4, 2013 at 18:46
  • Are you looking to use the REPL interactively, or when you're using Lisp as a scripting language? The last suggestion in 32.6.2. Scripting with CLISP shows a technique for scripting where each output value will be printed. You might be able to modify it in some way to see the input as well. Commented Oct 5, 2013 at 14:38

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Possibly, you can use DRIBBLE:

http://clhs.lisp.se/Body/f_dribbl.htm

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If you use CLISP (an implementation of ANSI Common Lisp), read the man page. Also see the documentation for *load-print* and LOAD for any implementation of ANSI Common Lisp.

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Common Lisp is a very different language from Bash. It doesn't have "commands" like Bash. It has functions, macros, and special operators. Whereas all Bash commands are atomic (from the perspective of the current Bash process), in Lisp this only is the case for primitive functions and special operators. Everything else is built up from simpler parts.

Because of that, a direct equivalent of Bash's xtrace/-x feature wouldn't make sense in Lisp. It would be helpful if you wrote what problem you actually want to solve, instead of just asking for a very specific feature. Perhaps calling trace on the functions you're interested in might help?

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If an implementation happened to provide hooks into its REPL, though, adding something to print the current form about to evaluated would answer the OP's question I think. (A glance at CLISP source doesn't make it look like CLISP has such a hook, but some implementations might.)
@JoshuaTaylor: The point of Bash's -x option is to provide a complete trace of all commands executed by a script. (I don't think it's of much use when the shell is used interactively.) I tried to make the point in my answer that such a feature would not be helpful in Lisp because it would take you deep into the bowels of the standard library. And the original forms are usually not what gets evaluated (e.g. because of macro expansions and compilation to native code). Therefore I suggested to instead trace specific functions of interest.
Because OP mentioned bash -x, I assumed that OP was doing some scripting with a Lisp. E.g., see 32.6.2. Scripting with CLISP in the CLISP manual. Rereading the question though, that assumption might not be justified.

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