Nested quotes

[yrashk]

For a long time I've been wondering whether this is a bug or a feature:

iex(1)> a = 1
1
iex(2)> quote do
...(2)>   b = a
...(2)>   quote do: unquote(b)
...(2)> end
** (UndefinedFunctionError) undefined function: IEx.Helpers.b/0

[yrashk]

I think I sort of understand why this works this way (and yet I so often end up wanting it to work in the above scenario)

[josevalim]

I have checked with other lisps when I first saw this and this is how they work too (if someone wants to double check, please do!). There are a few approaches to work around this, one is to pass quote unquote: false to the upper quote or trying to compose the quote expressions somehow.

But in general, yes, this is working how it was meant to.