To: J3                                                     J3/22-146
From:      Tobias Burnus & Steve Lionel
Subject:   F2018 interp: NULL() passed to assumed-rank dummy
Date: 2022-March-07

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NUMBER: F18/041
TITLE: NULL() passed to assumed-rank dummy
KEYWORDS: NULL, assumed-rank
DEFECT TYPE: erratum
STATUS: J3 consideration in progress

QUESTION:

Consider:

  call foo(null())
contains
  subroutine foo(x)
    integer, pointer, intent(in) :: x(..)
    print *, rank(x)
  end subroutine
end

What should be printed? According to Table 16.5 (Characteristics of
the result of NULL()), the actual argument has the rank of "the
corresponding dummy argument". In this case, however, the corresponding
dummy has no defined rank, instead taking its rank from the actual
argument. Was this intended to be undefined?

ANSWER:

No, this combination was intended to be non-conforming. Edits are
provided to correct this mistake.

EDITS to 18-007r1:

400:33, 16.9.144p6 (NULL intrinsic)

Add a new sentence to the end of the paragraph:

"If the context of the reference to NULL is an <actual argument>
corresponding to an <assumed-rank> dummy argument, MOLD shall be
present."
(Add restriction. The editor may choose to add this as a new
paragraph instead.)


SUBMITTED BY: Steve Lionel

HISTORY: 22-nnn    m226  F18/nnnn submitted

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