import

(import symbols &optional package)

Makes symbols (a symbol or a list of them) accessible unqualified in package (the current package by default): a later bare name resolves to the imported symbol rather than to a fresh symbol of the importing package. Returns t. It is the runtime form of the defpackage :import-from clause. The argument keeps its package qualifier — that is what says where the symbol comes from — and an unqualified symbol is already the current package's own, so importing it does nothing. An unknown package signals (No such package: NOSUCH).

Packages are resolved at read/compile time here (see Packages), so a literal top-level call is consumed at compile time like in-package and takes effect for the forms that follow it — which is what makes it work on every backend. A runtime-computed call (a symbol built at run time) works on the interpreter only.