The following examples illustrate some of the many ways in which the implementation-dependent nature of the modification can manifest itself.
(let ((a (list 2 1 4 3 7 6 'five))) (ignore-errors (sort a #'<)) a) => (1 2 3 4 6 7 FIVE) OR=> (2 1 4 3 7 6 FIVE) OR=> (2) (prog foo ((a (list 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10))) (sort a #'(lambda (x y) (if (zerop (random 5)) (return-from foo a) (> x y))))) => (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10) OR=> (3 4 5 6 2 7 8 9 10 1) OR=> (1 2 4 3)