How to convert a clojure keyword into a string?

In my application I need to convert clojure keyword eg. :var_name into a string "var_name". Any ideas how that could be done?

Solution 1:

user=> (doc name)
-------------------------
clojure.core/name
([x])
  Returns the name String of a string, symbol or keyword.
nil
user=> (name :var_name)
"var_name"

Solution 2:

Actually, it's just as easy to get the namespace portion of a keyword:

(name :foo/bar)  => "bar"
(namespace :foo/bar) => "foo"

Note that namespaces with multiple segments are separated with a '.', not a '/'

(namespace :foo/bar/baz) => throws exception: Invalid token: :foo/bar/baz
(namespace :foo.bar/baz) => "foo.bar"

And this also works with namespace qualified keywords:

;; assuming in the namespace foo.bar
(namespace ::baz) => "foo.bar"  
(name ::baz) => "baz"