--On Friday, September 3, 2004 3:31 PM -0400 Jean Vezina
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> What causes the problem is the string 5*abc
>
> Is it allowed to have a repeat count before
> an undelimited character string ?
Yes. You can't have something like 5* as part of an
undelimited character string (that's item 4 in the list
of things you can't have). That restriction resolves
what would otherwise be a potential ambiguity.
F2003 even has specific mention of the case of a repeat
count followed by an undelimitted character string, which makes
the answer pretty unambiguous. That mention was to clear up
a more subtle point that came up in an interp. Hmm, probably
an f95 interp, so I suspect that same mention is in one of the
f95 corrigenda, even though I don't see it in the original f95...
Yep, there it is. It is in f95 corrigenda 2.
Anyway, as I said, the point addressed by the corrigendum was
actually a more subtle one, but the mention certainly makes the
answer to this question pretty unambiguous. (Otherwise, I'd
be reduced to saying that it fits the rules and I don't see any
restriction against it.)
--
Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience;
[log in to unmask] | experience comes from bad judgment.
| -- Mark Twain
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