Re: The base-char issue again...

Not sure if you are asking how to rid yourself of unicode, or to allow it.

I allow UTF-8 encodings everywhere in my LW systems, which allows me to use Greek characters in my function names.

For that, I have this at the very start of my .Lispworks file:

#+:LISPWORKS
(progn
  (pushnew :LATIN-1 system:*specific-valid-file-encodings*)
  (pushnew :utf-8 system:*specific-valid-file-encodings*)

  (lw:set-default-character-element-type 'cl:character))



> On Sep 10, 2025, at 17:13, Steven Githens (as steve at githens dot org) <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm having a regression of a recurring issue with unicode characters, which I've fixed in other parts of my code base, but now I'm having the darnest time trying to write some unicode to a text file, and after reviewing the mailing list and my other file access, I can't figure out what the issue is.  It must be something obvious I'm missing... can anyone see what I'm doing wrong below.  I've got the default char element type set in .lispworks.  This is on macOS 8.1.0 ( I haven't upgraded to 8.1.1 yet, but I didn't see anything liek this in the release notes). Just trying to include unicode chat 0x2019.
> 
> Cheers,
> Steve
> 
> 
> CL-USER 1 > *default-character-element-type*
> CHARACTER
> 
> CL-USER 2 > (defun test-single-quote ()
>   (with-open-file (fs "/Users/sgithens/testlisp-lw.txt" :direction ':output
>                       :element-type 'character :if-exists :supersede)
>     (write-line "Some test text2: ’" fs)))
> TEST-SINGLE-QUOTE
> 
> CL-USER 3 > (test-single-quote)
> 
> Error: #\’ (of type CHARACTER) is not of type BASE-CHAR.
>   1 (abort) Return to top loop level 0.
> 
> Type :b for backtrace, or :c <option number> to proceed, or :a to abort.
> Type :bug-form "<subject>" for a bug report template or :? for other options.
> 
> CL-USER 4 : 1 > :top
> 
> CL-USER 5 > (defun test-single-quote2 ()
>   (with-open-file (fs "/Users/sgithens/testlisp-lw.txt" :direction ':output
>                       :element-type '(unsigned-byte 8.) :if-exists :supersede)
>     (write-line "Some test text2: ’" fs)))
> TEST-SINGLE-QUOTE2
> 
> CL-USER 6 > (test-single-quote2)
> 
> Error: #\’ (of type CHARACTER) is not of type BASE-CHAR.
>   1 (abort) Return to top loop level 0.
> 
> Type :b for backtrace, or :c <option number> to proceed, or :a to abort.
> Type :bug-form "<subject>" for a bug report template or :? for other options.
> 
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