Small file (aa.lisp) with examples from the cl-ppcre documentation: (defpackage :aa (:use :common-lisp :cl-ppcre)) (in-package :aa) (define-parse-tree-synonym a-z (:char-class (:range #\a #\z) (:range #\a #\z))) (define-parse-tree-synonym a-z* (:greedy-repetition 0 nil a-z)) (defun ascii-char-tester (string) (scan '(:sequence :start-anchor a-z* :end-anchor) string)) If I just load this file than all is ok. If I compile it first and then load aa.x86f (I use CMUCL) than it stops with error: Unknown token A-Z* in parse-tree [Condition of type PPCRE-SYNTAX-ERROR] Restarts: 0: [CONTINUE] Return NIL from load of "aa.x86f". 1: [ABORT ] Return to Top-Level. Debug (type H for help) (CL-PPCRE::CONVERT-AUX #<unavailable-arg>) Why does it not work? -- Registered Linux User #124759