Re: A few syntax questions

What is the purpose of an optional comma after the
type specifier CHARACTER*(n)?

Like the optional comma in the DO-statement, the optional
comma in the char-length is there because so many people
put one there. I received a request just yesterday from
someone who wanted Sun f95 to allow an optional comma
after the closing parenthesis following the io-control-spec-list
of a READ or WRITE statement.

In the numbered syntax rules, why are END (FUNCTION|
SUBROUTINE|PROGRAM) listed under action-stmt?

Possibly because they cause actions to occur when they are
executed. See Section 2.3.3 of the Fortran 95 standard or
the Fortran 2003 standard.

Does F2003 still require space-insensitive parsing of
free-form source code?

Did Fortran 2003 ever require space-insensitive parsing of
free-form source code?

Bob Corbett

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