21.6 The Expression menu

The Works > Expression menu lets you perform operations on the current expression, that is, the symbol in which the cursor currently lies. It behaves in exactly the same way as the Works > Expression menu in the Editor tool. See Current buffers, definitions and expression for details.

Choose Works > Expression > Class to look at the class of the current expression in a Class Browser. See The Class Browser for full details about this tool.

Choose Works > Expression > Find Source to search for the source code definition of the current expression. If the definition is found, the file is displayed in the editor and the definition is highlighted. See The Editor for an introduction to the editor. Note that you can find only the definitions of symbols you have defined yourself -- those for which you have evaluated or compiled the source code -- not those provided by the system.

Choose Works > Expression > Documentation to display the Common Lisp documentation (that is, the result of the function documentation ) for the current expression. If such documentation exists, it is printed in a help window.

Choose Works > Expression > Arguments to print the lambda list of the current expression in the echo area, if it is a function, generic function or method. This is similar to using the keystroke Alt+= , except that the current expression is automatically used.

Choose Works > Expression > Value to display the value of the current expression in the echo area.

Choose Works > Expression > Inspect Value to inspect the value of the current expression in the Inspector tool. If the value is nil , a message is printed in the echo area.

Choose Works > Expression > Toggle Breakpoint to add or remove a stepper breakpoint on the current expression. See for information about using the Stepper tool.

Choose Works > Expression > Evaluate Region to evaluate the Lisp code in the current region. You must make sure you have marked a region before choosing this command; see Marking the region. Whether you use the mouse or keyboard commands to mark a region does not matter.

Choose Works > Expression > Compile Region to compile the Lisp code in the current region.

Choose Works > Expression > Macroexpand to macroexpand the current form. The macroexpansion is printed in the output view, which is displayed automatically. Click the Output tab to redisplay the output at any time.

Choose Works > Expression > Walk to walk the current form. This performs a recursive macroexpansion on the form. The macroexpansion is printed in the output view, which is displayed automatically. Click the Output tab to redisplay the output at any time.

Choose Works > Expression > Trace to display a menu of trace commands which can be applied to the current expression. See Tracing symbols from tools for full details.

Choose Works > Expression > Function Calls to browse the current expression in a Function Call Browser. See The Function Call Browser for more details.

Choose Works > Expression > Generic Function to browse the current expression in a Generic Function Browser. This command is only available if the current expression is a generic function. See The Generic Function Browser for more details.

Choose Works > Expression > Browse Symbols Like to view symbols containing the current expression in a Symbol Browser. This command is analogous to cl:apropos . See The Symbol Browserfor more details.