Common Lisp the Language, 2nd Edition

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## 26.3.3. Loop Syntax

The following syntax description provides an overview of the syntax for loop clauses. Detailed syntax descriptions of individual clauses appear in sections 26.6 through 26.12. A loop consists of the following types of clauses:

    initial-final ::= initially | finally
    variables ::= with | initial-final | for-as | repeat
    main ::= unconditional | accumulation | conditional
         | termination | initial-final
    loop ::= (loop [named name] {variables}* {main}*)

Note that a loop must have at least one clause; however, for backward compatibility, the following format is also supported:

    (loop {tag | expr}*)

where expr is any Common Lisp expression that can be evaluated, and tag is any symbol not identifiable as a loop keyword. Such a format is roughly equivalent to the following one:

    (loop do {tag | expr}*)

A loop prologue consists of any automatic variable initializations prescribed by the variable clauses, along with any initially clauses in the order they appear in the source.

A loop epilogue consists of finally clauses, if any, along with any implicit return value from an accumulation clause or an end-test clause.