Is it possible to change Common Lisp's `getf` function default value to something else than NIL?

Question

The function getf works like that:

CL-USER> (getf '(:name "pedro") :name)
"pedro"
CL-USER> (getf '(:name "pedro") :whatever)
NIL

NIL is the default value. Is it possible to change it?

Answer 1

Yes. The documentation defines this possibility:

(getf place indicator &optional default)

Thus, the default value it's actually an optional argument. An example using it would be:

CL-USER> (getf '(:name "pedro") :name "no-answer")
"pedro"
CL-USER> (getf '(:name "pedro") :whatever "no-answer")
"no-answer"