3.15 Sequencing: begin, begin0, and begin-for-syntax
Sequencing in The Racket Guide introduces begin and begin0.
The second form applies for begin in an expression position. In that case, the exprs are evaluated in order, and the results are ignored for all but the last expr. The last expr is in tail position with respect to the begin form.
> (begin (define x 10) x) 10
> (+ 1 (begin (printf "hi\n") 2)) hi
3
> (let-values ([(x y) (begin (values 1 2 3) (values 1 2))]) (list x y)) '(1 2)
syntax
(begin0 expr ...+)
syntax
(begin-for-syntax form ...)
expressions reference bindings at a phase level one greater than in the context of the begin-for-syntax form;
define, define-values, define-syntax, and define-syntaxes forms bind at a phase level one greater than in the context of the begin-for-syntax form;
in require and provide forms, the default phase level is greater, which is roughly like wrapping the content of the require form with for-syntax;
expression form expr: converted to (define-values-for-syntax () (begin expr (values))), which effectively evaluates the expression at expansion time and, in the case of a module context, preserves the expression for future visits of the module.
See also module for information about expansion order and partial expansion for begin-for-syntax within a module context. Evaluation of an expr within begin-for-syntax is parameterized to set current-namespace as in let-syntax.