See also

• atom_codes/2
• string_chars/2
• string_codes/2

and also

• atom_string/2

Tests are good

Unit test code for atom_chars/2, also working as documentation:

test_atom_chars.pl

A stringy replacement

After some consideration, the use of atom_chars/2 and string_chars/2 has been prohibited in this house and stringy_chars/2 shall be used instead uniformly! No need to choose on the level of the predicate name anymore, which makes your mind vaccillate on the cusp of a low-level decision. Just use an additional argument:

• stringy.pl
• stringy.plt

As in:

stringy_chars(Text, [f,o,o], string). % ... gives "foo"
stringy_chars(Text, [f,o,o], atom).   % ... gives 'foo'

stringy_chars("foo", Chars, Want).    % ... gives [Chars,Want] == [[f,o,o],string]
stringy_chars(foo, Chars, Want).      % ... gives [Chars,Want] == [[f,o,o],atom]