Print output into a file or not print output?

Question

I'd like to save or ignore outputs when I execute a specific function in lisp. I use Emacs and CCL. For example,

(defun foo (x) (format t "x = ~s~%" x))

and if I execute the function, it prints out "x = 5". But I don't want to printout in a buffer, because if I have a large amount of iteration, the speed of simulation will be decreased.

Any idea?

Answer 1

You can temporarily redirect standard output by binding *standard-output* to a stream. For example, a broadcast stream with no output streams will serve as a black hole for output:

(let ((*standard-output* (make-broadcast-stream)))
  (foo 10)
  (foo 20))
;; Does not output anything.

You can also do this with other binding constructs, such as with-output-to-string or with-open-file:

(with-output-to-string (*standard-output*)
  (foo 10)
  (foo 20))
;; Does not print anything;
;; returns the output as a string instead.

(with-open-file (*standard-output* "/tmp/foo.txt" :direction :output)
  (foo 10)
  (foo 20))
;; Does not print anything;
;; writes the output to /tmp/foo.txt instead.

Answer 2

Instead of t as the first argument to format, you can give it an output file stream and your output for that statement will be sent to that file stream.

However having excessive disk I/O will also will increase your running time, hence you can consider having two modes like a debug and a release mode for your program where the debug mode prints all the diagnostic messages and the release mode does not print anything at all.