07-266 To: J3 From: Dick Hendrickson Subject: Interpretation: Can a READ statement change the unit value? Date: 2007 July 30 NUMBER: F03/0096 TITLE: Can a read statement change the unit value? KEYWORDS: Read statement, unit value DEFECT TYPE: Erratum STATUS: J3 consideration in progress QUESTION: Is it allowed to change the value of a variable which supplies the unit number to an read statement? Page 219:16 says the value of any input/output specifier shall not depend on any input-item. If you trace back, the unit= is a specifier in a READ statement. Note 9:40 on page 196 gives the example READ(N) N, X(N) and discusses how the changes in N work. In F77 the similar example had READ(3). In Fortran 90 this was changed to READ(N) (on page 126) and was normative. In F95 the example was changed to a non-normative note. The words prohibiting the example usage appear to be new to F03. ANSWER: Yes, the example is intended to be allowed as a backwards compatibility feature. Edits will be supplied to make this clear. EDITS: SUBMITTED BY: Dick Hendrickson HISTORY: 07-xxx m181 F03/00xx Submitted