Appendix B — Edit-descriptor quick reference

A one-page summary of the FORMAT edit descriptors (§13). Full explanations and examples are in Chapter 13. w = field width, d = decimals, m = minimum digits, e = exponent width, c = column, n/r/k = counts.

Repeatable (data) descriptors

Descriptor	Type	Notes
Iw, Iw.m	integer	right-justified; Iw.m zero-fills to ≥ m digits
Fw.d	real	fixed-point, d decimals
Ew.d, Ew.dEe	real	scientific; Ee sets the exponent width
Dw.d	double	scientific, D exponent
Gw.d, Gw.dEe	real	general — F- or E-form chosen by magnitude
Lw	logical	w−1 blanks then T/F
A, Aw	character	bare A uses the item's length; Aw uses width w

Overflow (value won't fit w) prints all asterisks. On input, leading blanks are ignored and an all-blank field reads as 0.

Non-repeatable (control) descriptors

Descriptor	Effect
'text'	literal text (output)
nHtext	Hollerith literal: the n characters after H (output)
nX	skip n positions
Tc	tab to absolute column c
TLc, TRc	tab left / right c columns
/	end the current record, start a new one
:	stop if the I/O list is exhausted
S, SP, SS	sign control: default / force + / suppress +
kP	scale factor (shift the decimal point by k)
BN, BZ	input: blanks in a numeric field are null / zeros

Grouping & reversion

• rX repeats a descriptor r times: 3I5 = I5,I5,I5.
• r(...) repeats a parenthesized group: 2(I3,F6.2).
• If the I/O list outlasts the format, processing reverts to the last open group, starting a new record each time.

Carriage control (printing devices)

The first character of a printed record is consumed for vertical spacing: blank = one line, 0 = two lines, 1 = new page, + = overprint. Begin output formats with a blank (1X or ' ') so a leading data digit isn't eaten. Whether a device "prints" is processor-determined — under forterp's F77 dialect standard output is a terminal (no carriage control); see Chapter 13 and Appendix D.