Quarks are associations between strings and integer identifiers. Given either the string or the GQuark identifier it is possible to retrieve the other. In the Lisp binding the type g-quark translates a string argument to the corresponding GQuark identifier and a GQuark return value is translated to the corresponding Lisp string. No further functions are implemented for the g-quark type.

If the Lisp string does not currently have an associated GQuark, a new GQuark is created. A GQuark value of zero is associated to nil in Lisp.

See the function g-type-qdata for attaching a GQuark identifier to a g-type. Translate a Lisp String to a GQuark identifier:

  (convert-to-foreign "GtkWidget" 'g-quark)
=> 232
  (convert-to-foreign "gboolean" 'g-quark)
=> 9
  (convert-to-foreign nil 'g-quark)
=> 0     

Translate a GQuark identifier to a Lisp string:

  (convert-from-foreign 232 'g-quark)
=> "GtkWidget"
  (convert-from-foreign 9 'g-quark)
=> "gboolean"
  (convert-from-foreign 0 'g-quark)
=> NIL