J3/99-193 Date: August 4, 1999 To: J3 From: Keith Bierman Subject: Writing zeros NUMBER: temp CORB-4 TITLE: writing zeros KEYWORDS: list-directed output, namelist output DEFECT TYPE: STATUS: submitted QUESTION: The standard currently requires a real zero to be written in exponential form when using list-directed or namelist output. Is this requirement intentional or an oversight? ANSWER: The requirement is an oversight. Discussion: The G edit descriptor was changed in Fortran 90 to format a real zero as if an F edit descriptor were provided in most cases. The same change was not made for list-directed or namelist output. I can attest that users hate having the value zero written in exponential form when using list-directed output. They hate the leading blanks at the start of lines more, but that behavior is clearly intentional. REFERENCES: ISO/IEC 1539-1:1997(E), Sections 10.5.4.1.2, 10.8.2, and 10.9.2.1 EDITS: Add the text The real value zero may be output using either a 0PFw.d or a 1PEw.dEe edit descriptor. to the fifth paragraph of Section 10.8.2. SUBMITTED BY: Robert Corbett HISTORY: