2.3 Other notations

For a description of the notations used for numbers, see section 6.2.

. + -

These are used in numbers, and may also occur anywhere in an identifier except as the first character. A delimited plus or minus sign by itself is also an identifier. A delimited period (not occurring within a number or identifier) is used in the notation for pairs (section 6.3.2), and to indicate a rest-parameter in a formal parameter list (section 4.1.4). A delimited sequence of three successive periods is also an identifier.

( )

Parentheses are used for grouping and to notate lists (section 6.3.2).

'

The single quote character is used to indicate literal data (section 4.1.2).

`

The backquote character is used to indicate almost-constant data (section 4.2.6).

, ,@

The character comma and the sequence comma at-sign are used in conjunction with backquote (section 4.2.6).

"

The double quote character is used to delimit strings (section 6.3.5).

\

Backslash is used in the syntax for character constants (section 6.3.4) and as an escape character within string constants (section 6.3.5).

[ ] { } |

Left and right square brackets and curly braces and vertical bar are reserved for possible future extensions to the language.

#

Sharp sign is used for a variety of purposes depending on the character that immediately follows it:

#t #f

These are the boolean constants (section 6.3.1).

#\

This introduces a character constant (section 6.3.4).

#(

This introduces a vector constant (section 6.3.6). Vector constants are terminated by ")".

#e #i #b #o #d #x

These are used in the notation for numbers (section 6.2.4).