eval

(eval form)

Evaluates a form -- typically a list produced by read, read-from-string, or quoting -- in the global environment and returns its result. Works in all three backends: the interpreter evaluates directly, while the JVM and WASM compilers emit a small runtime tree-walking interpreter that shares the compiled value representation. Top-level globals defined by the compiled program are mirrored into the eval environment, so an eval'd expression can see them.

Quoting the form keeps it unevaluated until eval runs it; (eval (read-from-string "(* 6 7)")) returns 42.