cons
The cons
function constructs lists; it is the inverse of
car
and cdr
. For example, cons
can be used to make
a four element list from the three element list, (fir oak maple)
:
(cons 'pine '(fir oak maple))
After evaluating this list, you will see
(pine fir oak maple)
appear in the echo area. cons
causes the creation of a new
list in which the element is followed by the elements of the original
list.
We often say that cons
puts a new element at the beginning of
a list, or that it attaches or pushes elements onto the list, but this
phrasing can be misleading, since cons
does not change an
existing list, but creates a new one.
Like car
and cdr
, cons
is non-destructive.