The general form of a FORMAT statement follows:

     FORMAT (q1 f1s1 f2s2 ... fnsn qn)

     qn   Is zero or more slash (/) record terminators.

     fn   Is a data edit descriptor, a control edit descriptor, or
          a group of data or control edit descriptors enclosed
          in parentheses.

     sn   Is a field separator (a comma or slash).  A
          comma can be omitted in the following cases:

          o Between a P edit descriptor and an immediately
            following F, E, EN, ES, D, or G edit descriptor.

          o Before a slash (/) record terminator (if there is
            no optional repeat specification)

          o After a slash (/) record terminator.

          o Before or after a colon (:) edit descriptor.

  In data transfer I/O statements, a format specifier ([FMT=]format)
  can be a character expression that is a character array, character
  array element, or character constant.  This type of format is also
  called a run-time format because it can be constructed or altered
  during program execution.

  The expression must evaluate to a character string whose leading
  part is a valid format specification (including the enclosing
  parentheses).  Variable format expressions must not appear in this
  kind of format specification.