How can I use a var to provide multiple arguments to a function? [duplicate]

Question

Here is a simple example in which I would like to replace

(start-process "ls" "*temp*" "ls" "-l" "-a" "-t" "-r") ; this works

with

(setq some-var ????) ; <-- Need to figure this part out
(start-process "ls" "*temp*" "ls" some-var)

But I cannot figure out how to represent that some-var.

Below did not work:

;; Attempt 1
(setq some-var "-l -a -t -r")

;; Attempt 2
(setq some-var '("-l" "-a" "-t" "-r"))

I basically need a solution to be able to provide variable number of args (&rest args) to a function using a variable.

Answer 1

You are looking for the function apply. Use it as follows:

(setq some-var '("-l" "-a" "-t" "-r"))
(apply #'start-process "ls" "*temp*" "ls" some-var)