(defun combine-list-into-keyword (parents depth-of-combination &key (from-start nil)
								 (ignore-positions '())
								 (all-parents nil))
  "Combines the name of the parents with the parent names upto depth-of-combination, eg 
the node-name 'charles' with the node-parents being (sex height race name) and depth 2 would
would become ':race-name-charles', but 4 would be ':sex-height-race-name-charles',
 depth is measured from right to left, so most recent parent first. If all-parents is set to t, 
then all the parents with the exception of the positions listed in ignore-positions will be used"

  (let* ((nparents (if (listp ignore-positions)
		       (let ((items-to-remove (collect-positions-in-list parents ignore-positions)))
			 (remove-list-items-from-list items-to-remove parents))
		       parents))
	(d-o-p (cond (all-parents
		      (length nparents))
		     ((< depth-of-combination 1)
		      1)
		     ((< (length nparents) depth-of-combination)
		      (length nparents))
		     (t depth-of-combination))))
    (intern (format nil "~{~a~^-~}" (if from-start
					(subseq nparents 0 d-o-p)
					(reverse (subseq (reverse nparents) 0 d-o-p))))
	    "KEYWORD")))