J3/04-130

Date:    15 Dec. 2003
To:      J3
From:    Dan Nagle
Subject: Removing ISO_VARYING_STRINGS


Comments have been made regarding the desirability or not
of removing the varying string part of the standard, now
that allocatable entities of type character are more capable.
If the choice is made to remove varying strings as redundant,
some intrinsic functions, defined for varying strings,
should be defined instead for characters.  This paper
merely lists those intrinsics.

This paper does not propose to make the GET/PUT/PUT_LINE
intrinsics available for character entities.

Number:

Title: Varying Strings Intrinsics for Characters

Submitted By: J3

Status: For Consideration

References: ISO/IEC 1539-2 Varying Length Character Strings in Fortran

Basic Functionality: Make the procedures defined in Section 7
                     of the varying strings part available for characters.

Rationale:  If varying strings are removed from Fortran as redundant,
            their additional intrinsics should be available
            for character variables.

Estimated Impact: Five intrinsic procedures defined for varying strings
                  would have to be supported for character entities.

Detailed Specification: The five procedures are:
                        1. INSERT
                        2. REPLACE
                        3. REMOVE
                        4. EXTRACT
                        5. SPLIT
                        The precise specification is given in Part 2,
                        referenced above.

History: