returning multiple values from multiple functions?

Question

Often, I have main functions that run multiple functions in my common lisp apps.

(main 
  (run-function-1...)
  (run-function-2...)
  (run-function-3...)
  (run-function-4...)
  (run-function-5...))

At the moment, I have this situation where each function in main returns a varying number of values. However, the number of return values are also fixed.

I want main to return all values from all function.

(main 
  (run-function-1...) ;<--- returns 2 values
  (run-function-2...) ;<--- returns 2 values
  (run-function-3...) ;<--- returns 1 values
  (run-function-4...) ;<--- returns 3 values
  (run-function-5...)) ;<--- returns 2 values

;; main should return 10 values

When I do multiple-value-bind inside of main it doesnt capture all function returns. Because it only accepts one value-form.

Answer 1

You could use multiple-value-list + append + values-list, but I think the most straightforward is multiple-value-call:

(multiple-value-call #'values
  (run-function-1 ...) 
  (run-function-2 ...)
  (run-function-3 ...) 
  (run-function-4 ...)
  (run-function-5 ...))

If you want to return a list, replace #'values with #'list.