In free source form, statements are not limited to specific
positions on a source line, and a line can contain from 0 to 132
characters.
Blank characters are significant in free source form. The
following are rules for blank characters:
o Blank characters must not appear in lexical tokens, except
within a character context. For example, there can be no
blanks between the exponentiation operator **. Blank
characters can be used freely between lexical tokens to improve
legibility.
o Blank characters must be used to separate names, constants, or
labels from adjacent keywords, names, constants, or labels.
For example, consider the following statements:
INTEGER NUM
GO TO 40
20 DO K=1,8
The blanks are required after INTEGER, TO, 20, and DO.
o Some adjacent keywords must have one or more blank characters
between them. Others do not require any; for example, BLOCK
DATA can also be spelled BLOCKDATA. The following list shows
which keywords have optional or required blanks.
Optional Blanks Required Blanks
---------------- ----------------
BLOCK DATA CASE DEFAULT
DOUBLE COMPLEX DO WHILE
DOUBLE PRECISION IMPLICIT type
ELSE IF IMPLICIT NONE
END BLOCK DATA INTERFACE ASSIGNMENT
END DO INTERFACE OPERATOR
END FILE MODULE PROCEDURE
END FORALL RECURSIVE FUNCTION
END FUNCTION RECURSIVE SUBROUTINE
END IF RECURSIVE type FUNCTION
END INTERFACE type FUNCTION
END MODULE type RECURSIVE FUNCTION
END PROGRAM
END SELECT
END SUBROUTINE
END TYPE
END WHERE
GO TO
IN OUT
SELECT CASE
The exclamation point character (!) indicates a comment if it is
within a source line, or a comment line if it is the first
character in a source line.
The ampersand character (&) indicates a continuation line (unless
it appears in a Hollerith or character constant, or within a
comment). The continuation line is the first noncomment line
following the ampersand. Although Fortran 95/90 permits up to 39
continuation lines in free-form programs, VSI Fortran allows up
to 511 continuation lines.
The following shows a continued statement:
TCOSH(Y) = EXP(Y) + & ! The initial statement line
EXP(-Y) ! A continuation line
If the first nonblank character on the next noncomment line is an
ampersand, the statement continues at the character following the
ampersand. For example, the preceding example can be written as
follows:
TCOSH(Y) = EXP(Y) + &
& EXP(-Y)
If a lexical token must be continued, the first nonblank character
on the next noncomment line must be an ampersand followed
immediately by the rest of the token. For example:
TCOSH(Y) = EXP(Y) + EX&
&P(-Y)
If you continue a character constant, an ampersand must be the
first non-blank character of the continued line; the statement
continues with the next character following the ampersand. For
example:
ADVERTISER = "Davis, O'Brien, Chalmers & Peter&
&son"
ARCHITECT = "O'Connor, Emerson, and Davis&
& Associates"
In VSI Fortran, if the ampersand is omitted on the continued
line, the statement continues with the first non-blank character in
the continued line. So, in the preceding example, the whitespace
before "Associates" would be ignored.
The ampersand cannot be the only nonblank character in a line, or
the only nonblank character before a comment; an ampersand in a
comment is ignored.