Re: The base-char issue again...

Thanks Edward/David!  I ended up using both your suggestions and things 
are working now!  I was totally ignorant of the external-format param 
and the system file encodings setting.  Will be trying this with my 
delivered image tomorrow... :)

Cheers,
Steve

On 9/10/25 6:20 PM, Edward Kiser wrote:
> If writing Unicode characters is what you want, you might need to add 
> an :external-format argument to with-open-file:
>
> (defun test-single-quote3 ()
>    (with-open-file (fs "/Users/sgithens/testlisp-lw.txt" :direction 
> ':output
>                        :external-format '(:utf-8 :eol-style :lf) 
> :if-exists :supersede)
>      (write-line "Some test text2: ’" fs))
>
> On Wed, Sep 10, 2025 at 8:42 PM David McClain (as dbm at 
> refined-audiometrics dot com) <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>     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.
>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     Lisp Hug - the mailing list for LispWorks users
>>     [email protected]
>>     http://www.lispworks.com/support/lisp-hug.html
>