* New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol

NEWS

@@ -216,6 +216,13 @@ current values of file descriptors 0, 1, and 2 in the parent process.
 In contrast to scm_boot_guile, scm_init_guile will return normally
 after initializing Guile.  It is not available on all systems, tho.
 
+** New functions: scm_str2symbol, scm_mem2symbol
+
+The function scm_str2symbol takes a const char* pointing to a zero-terminated
+field of characters and creates a scheme symbol object from that C string.
+The function scm_mem2symbol takes a const char* and a number of characters and
+creates a symbol from the characters in that memory area.
+
 ** New functions: scm_primitive_make_property
                   scm_primitive_property_ref
                   scm_primitive_property_set_x

libguile/ChangeLog

@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2000-12-08  Dirk Herrmann  <D.Herrmann@tu-bs.de>
+
+	* symbols.[ch] (scm_mem2symbol, scm_str2symbol):  New functions.
+	These shall replace all those calls to scm_intern... which are
+	only required to create a scheme symbol from a C string or a field
+	of chars.
+
 2000-12-08  Dirk Herrmann  <D.Herrmann@tu-bs.de>
 
 	* environments.c (DEFAULT_OBARRAY_SIZE), gc.c

libguile/symbols.c

@@ -316,6 +316,20 @@ scm_intern_obarray_soft (const char *name,scm_sizet len,SCM obarray,unsigned int
 }
 
 
+SCM
+scm_mem2symbol (const char *mem, scm_sizet len)
+{
+  return SCM_CAR (scm_intern_obarray_soft (mem, len, scm_symhash, 0));
+}
+
+
+SCM
+scm_str2symbol (const char *str)
+{
+  return SCM_CAR (scm_intern_obarray_soft (str, strlen (str), scm_symhash, 0));
+}
+
+
 SCM
 scm_intern_obarray (const char *name,scm_sizet len,SCM obarray)
 {

libguile/symbols.h

@@ -72,6 +72,10 @@
 
 
 extern unsigned long scm_string_hash (const unsigned char *str, scm_sizet len);
+
+extern SCM scm_mem2symbol (const char*, scm_sizet);
+extern SCM scm_str2symbol (const char*);
+
 extern SCM scm_sym2vcell (SCM sym, SCM thunk, SCM definep);
 extern SCM scm_sym2ovcell_soft (SCM sym, SCM obarray);
 extern SCM scm_sym2ovcell (SCM sym, SCM obarray);