You need (require (for-syntax syntax/parse)) because you are using it inside a define-syntax. <div class="gmail_quote">On Sep 24, 2013 11:56 AM, "Konrad Hinsen" <<a href="mailto:konrad.hinsen@fastmail.net">konrad.hinsen@fastmail.net</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> Hi everyone, I am trying to learn about syntax-parse, starting with the introduction of the "Syntax" documentation. Unfortunately, the very first example given for the use of syntax-parse doesn't work in my Racket installation: Welcome to Racket v5.90.0.9. racket@> (require syntax/parse) racket@> (define-syntax (mylet stx) (syntax-parse stx [(_ ([var-id rhs-expr] ...) body ...+) #'((lambda (var-id ...) body ...) rhs-expr ...)])) stdin::277: _: wildcard not allowed as an expression in: (_ ((var-id rhs-expr) ...) body ...+) errortrace...: context...: try-next /Users/hinsen/Development/racket/pkgs/errortrace-pkgs/errortrace-lib/errortrace/errortrace-lib.rkt:480:4 /Users/hinsen/Applications/Racket/collects/racket/private/misc.rkt:87:7 I tried replacing the wildcard by "mylet", but that only leads to another error message: racket@> (define-syntax (mylet stx) (syntax-parse stx [(mylet ([var-id rhs-expr] ...) body ...+) #'((lambda (var-id ...) body ...) rhs-expr ...)])) stdin::842: ...: ellipses not allowed as an expression in: ... errortrace...: context...: try-next /Users/hinsen/Development/racket/pkgs/errortrace-pkgs/errortrace-lib/errortrace/errortrace-lib.rkt:480:4 /Users/hinsen/Applications/Racket/collects/racket/private/misc.rkt:87:7 Am I doing something wrong here? Or are the examples obsolete? Konrad. ____________________ Racket Users list: <a href="http://lists.racket-lang.org/users" target="_blank">http://lists.racket-lang.org/users</a> </blockquote></div>