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 g:quark-as-string type specifier 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-as-string type specifier.

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

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

(cffi:convert-to-foreign "GtkWidget" 'g:quark-as-string) => 91
(cffi:convert-to-foreign "gboolean" 'g:quark-as-string) => 9
(cffi:convert-to-foreign nil 'g:quark-as-string) => 0     

Translate a GQuark identifier to a Lisp string:

(cffi:convert-from-foreign 91 'g:quark-as-string) => "GtkWidget"
(cffi:convert-from-foreign 9 'g:quark-as-string) => "gboolean"
(cffi:convert-from-foreign 0 'g:quark-as-string) => NIL