a few changes enclosed:

* documented deps
* mild string escaping
* corrected a misbehavior in sym

src/lex.rs

@@ -16,10 +16,18 @@
  */
 
 use crate::segment::{Ctr, Seg};
+use phf::{Map, phf_map};
 
 const UNMATCHED_STR_DELIM: &str = "Unmatched string delimiter in input";
 const UNMATCHED_LIST_DELIM: &str = "Unmatched list delimiter in input";
 
+
+static ESCAPES: Map<char, char> = phf_map! {
+    'n' => '\n',
+    't' => '\t',
+    '\\' => '\\',
+};
+
 /* takes a line of user input
  * returns an unsimplified tree of tokens.
  */
@@ -71,7 +79,7 @@ fn process(document: &String) -> Result<Box<Seg>, String> {
             delim = *d;
 
             if delim == '*' {
-                token.push(c);
+                token.push(ESCAPES[&c]);
                 delim_stack.pop();
                 continue;
 
@@ -136,7 +144,7 @@ fn process(document: &String) -> Result<Box<Seg>, String> {
                     delim_stack.push('\n');
                 }
                 // escape next char
-                '\\' => {
+                '\\' => if is_str {
                     delim_stack.push('*');
                 }
                 // add to token

src/sym.rs

@@ -132,9 +132,6 @@ impl SymTable {
         // but we dont want to increment it
         symbol.__generation -= 1;
         self.insert(name.to_string(), symbol.clone());
-
-        let cond_args: &Seg;
-        let outer_scope_seg_holder: Seg;
         if let ValueType::VarForm(ref val) = symbol.value {
             match **val {
                 Ctr::Lambda(ref l) if call_func => {
@@ -147,13 +144,11 @@ impl SymTable {
                 _ => return Ok(val.clone()),
             }
         } else if call_func {
-            cond_args = args
+            symbol.call(args, self)
         } else {
-            outer_scope_seg_holder = Seg::new();
-            cond_args = &outer_scope_seg_holder;
+            // its a function but call_func is off
+            Ok(Box::new(Ctr::Symbol(name.to_string())))
         }
-
-        symbol.call(cond_args, self)
     }
 
     pub fn is_function_type(&self, name: &String) -> Option<bool> {