A character type. This can take any of the values cl:base-char, bmp-char and cl:character. For backwards compatibility, simple-char is also allowed, and is treated as if cl:character was passed.
The function set-default-character-element-type sets the value of lw:*default-character-element-type*, ensuring that the system's internal state is also updated accordingly.
If you are running an existing 8-bit application you will only need to have this in your site or user configuration file:
(lw:set-default-character-element-type 'base-char)
It would be a mistake to call this function in a loadable package and it is not intended to be called while running code. In particular, it is global, not thread-specific.
Hence we consider lw:*default-character-element-type* a parameter.
simple-char is deprecated. Its meaning has changed between LispWorks 6 and 7.
string
simple-string
make-string
open
*default-character-element-type*
with-output-to-string
Unicode support
Controlling string construction
LispWorks User Guide and Reference Manual - 20 Sep 2017