@cindex mapping functions
A @dfn{mapping function} applies a given function (@emph{not} a
-special form or macro) to each element of a list or other collection.
+special form or macro) to each element of a sequence, such as a list or
+a vector or a string (@pxref{Sequences Arrays Vectors}).
Emacs Lisp has several such functions; this section describes
@code{mapcar}, @code{mapc}, @code{mapconcat}, and @code{mapcan}, which
-map over a list. @xref{Definition of mapatoms}, for the function
+map over sequences. @xref{Definition of mapatoms}, for the function
@code{mapatoms} which maps over the symbols in an obarray.
@xref{Definition of maphash}, for the function @code{maphash} which
maps over key/value associations in a hash table.
- These mapping functions do not allow char-tables because a char-table
+ These mapping functions do not work on char-tables because a char-table
is a sparse array whose nominal range of indices is very large. To map
over a char-table in a way that deals properly with its sparse nature,
use the function @code{map-char-table} (@pxref{Char-Tables}).