SymbolName

Status: Stable

documented, exercised by the test suite and/or worked examples, with no known limitations recorded.

Description

SymbolName[symbol]

gives the name of symbol as a string, with any context prefix removed.

Examples (3)

Every input below was run against the current Mathilda build and its output recorded.

Applications (3)

The symbol's own name as a string

In[1]:= SymbolName[xyz]
Out[1]= "xyz"

The context prefix is stripped

In[2]:= SymbolName[Global`foo]
Out[2]= "foo"

The result is a String

In[3]:= Head[SymbolName[abc]]
Out[3]= String

Implementation notes

Algorithm. builtin_symbolname takes one argument and, when it is a symbol, returns the symbol's short name as a string with any context prefix stripped. The implementation finds the last backtick in the interned name with strrchr(n, '')and returns everything after it (or the whole name if there is no backtick), soSymbolName[Globalx] and SymbolName[PPrivatex] both give "x". Anything that is not a symbol — a number, a compound expression — declines (returns NULL) and the call is left unevaluated, which is the same observable a caller testing the result's head would get from Wolfram's SymbolName::sym path.

Data structures. None beyond the argument. The returned value is a freshly allocated EXPR_STRING copied from the tail of the interned name; the name buffer itself is not modified.

Complexity / limits. O(k) in the length of the name (one backtick scan). The argument is evaluated first, so SymbolName[s] where s has a value reports on that value, not on s; apply it to the bare symbol to name the symbol itself. Wrong arity declines.

Attributes: Protected.

References

• Source: src/core.c
• Specification index: Mathilda_spec.md
• Tests: tests/test_mathar_regressions.c

Notes & additional examples

Notes

SymbolName[sym] gives the short name of sym as a string, with any context prefix (Global\``,P`Private``, ...) removed — only the part after the last backtick is kept. The argument is evaluated first, so to name a symbol that has a value, pass it held or use the bare symbol. A non-symbol argument is left unevaluated.