HP Fortran for OpenVMS
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6.6.1 Preconnected Files and Fortran Logical Names

You can use OpenVMS logical names to associate logical units with file specifications. A logical name is a string up to 255 characters long that you can use as part of a file specification.

Table 6-3 lists the OpenVMS process logical names for standard I/O devices already associated with particular file specifications.

Table 6-3 Predefined System Logical Names
OpenVMS Logical Name Meaning Default
SYS$COMMAND Default command stream For an interactive user, the default is the terminal; for a batch job, the default is the batch job input command file.
SYS$DISK Default disk device As specified by user.
SYS$ERROR Default error stream For an interactive user, the default is the terminal; for a batch job, the default is the batch job log file.
SYS$INPUT Default input stream For an interactive user, the default is the terminal; for a batch job, the default is the batch command file.
SYS$OUTPUT Default output stream For an interactive user, the default is the terminal; for a batch job, the default is the batch log file.

You can dynamically create a logical name and associate it with a file specification by means of the DCL commands ASSIGN or DEFINE. For example, before program execution, you can define each logical name recognized by your program with a file specification appropriate to your needs without recompiling and relinking the program. For example:


$ DEFINE LOGNAM USERD:[SMITH]TEST.DAT;2

The preceding command creates the logical name LOGNAM and associates it with the file specification USERD:[SMITH]TEST.DAT;2. As a result, this file specification is used whenever the logical name LOGNAM is encountered during program execution.

The following statement opens the file associated with the current definition of the logical name LOGNAM:


  OPEN (UNIT=7, FILE='LOGNAM', STATUS='OLD') 

Logical names provide great flexibility because they can be associated with either a partial or complete file specification (with either a device or a device and a directory), or even another logical name.

6.6.1.1 Preconnected Files

ACCEPT, TYPE, and PRINT statements do not refer explicitly to a logical unit (a file or device) from which or to which data is to be transferred; they refer implicitly to a default preconnected logical unit. ACCEPT refers to the default input device SYS$INPUT. TYPE and PRINT refer to the default output device SYS$OUTPUT. These defaults can be overridden with appropriate logical name assignments (see Section 6.6.1.2).

READ, WRITE, and REWRITE usually refer to explicit unit numbers. If you do not use an OPEN statement to open logical unit 5 or 6 without setting the appropriate logical name (FORnnn), unit number 5 is associated with SYS$INPUT and unit 6 with SYS$OUTPUT.

At run time, if units 5 and 6 are specified by a record I/O statement (such as READ or WRITE) without having been explicitly opened by an OPEN statement, HP Fortran implicitly opens units 5 and 6 and associates them with their respective operating system standard I/O files if the corresponding logical name is not set.

To redirect I/O to an external disk file instead of these preconnected files, you can either use an OPEN statement to unit 5 and 6 or set the appropriate logical name. If you set the corresponding HP Fortran logical name, the file specified by that HP Fortran logical name is used.

The order of precedence when you open a file is:

Table 6-4 shows the I/O statements and their associated Fortran logical names and OpenVMS standard I/O logical names.

Table 6-4 Implicit Fortran Logical Units
Statement Fortran Logical Name1 Equivalent OpenVMS Logical Name
READ (*,f) iolist FOR$READ SYS$INPUT
READ f,iolist FOR$READ SYS$INPUT
ACCEPT f,iolist FOR$ACCEPT SYS$INPUT
WRITE (*,f) iolist FOR$PRINT SYS$OUTPUT
PRINT f,iolist FOR$PRINT SYS$OUTPUT
TYPE f,iolist FOR$TYPE SYS$OUTPUT
READ (5),iolist FOR005 SYS$INPUT
WRITE (6),iolist FOR006 SYS$OUTPUT


1If the Fortran logical name is defined, it is used; if the Fortran logical name is not defined, the OpenVMS standard I/O logical names are used.

You can change the file specifications associated with these Fortran logical names by using the DCL commands DEFINE or ASSIGN.

6.6.1.2 HP Fortran Logical Names

HP Fortran I/O is usually performed by associating a logical unit number with a device or file. OpenVMS logical names provide an additional level of association; a user-specified logical name can be associated with a logical unit number.

HP Fortran provides predefined logical names in the following form:

FORnnn

The notation nnn represents a logical unit number, any non-negative 4-byte integer (maximum value is 2,147,483,647). For example, for logical unit 12, the predefined logical name would be FOR012; for logical unit 1024, the predefined logical name would be FOR1024.

By default, each Fortran logical name is associated with a file named FORnnn.DAT on your default disk under your default directory. For example:


  WRITE (17,200) 

If you enter the preceding statement without including an explicit file specification, the data is written to a file named FOR017.DAT on your default disk under your default directory.

You can change the file specification associated with a Fortran logical unit number by using the DCL commands ASSIGN or DEFINE to change the file associated with the corresponding Fortran logical name. For example:


$ DEFINE FOR017 USERD:[SMITH]TEST.DAT;2 

The preceding command associates the Fortran logical name FOR017 (and therefore logical unit 17) with file TEST.DAT;2 on device USERD in directory [SMITH].

You can also associate the Fortran logical names with any of the predefined system logical names, as shown in the following examples:

For More Information:

On the DCL commands you can use to assign or deassign logical names, see Appendix D.

6.6.2 Disk Files and File Specifications

Most I/O operations involve a disk file, keyboard, or screen display. You can access the terminal screen or keyboard by using preconnected files, as described in Section 6.6. Otherwise, this chapter discusses disk files.

HP Fortran recognizes logical names for each logical I/O unit number in the form of FORnnn, where nnn is the logical I/O unit number, with leading zeros for fewer than three digits. If a file name is not specified in the OPEN statement and the corresponding FORnnn logical name is not set for that unit number, HP Fortran generates a file name in the form FORnnn.DAT, where n is the logical unit number.

Certain HP Fortran logical names are recognized and preconnected files exist for certain unit numbers. Performing an implied OPEN means that the FILE and DEFAULTFILE specifier values are not specified and a logical name is used, if present.

A complete OpenVMS file specification has the form:

node::device:[directory]filename.filetype;version

For example:


  BOSTON::USERD:[SMITH]TEST.DAT;2 

You can associate a file specification with a logical unit by using a logical name assignment (see Section 6.6.1) or by using an OPEN statement (see Section 6.6.2). If you do not specify such an association or if you omit elements of the file specification, the system supplies default values, as follows:

For example, if your default device is USERD and your default directory is SMITH, and you specified the following statements:


  READ (8,100) 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  WRITE (9,200) 

The default input file specification would be:

USERD:[SMITH]FOR008.DAT;n

The default output file specification would be:

USERD:[SMITH]FOR009.DAT;m

In these examples, n equals the highest current version number of FOR008.DAT and m is 1 greater than the highest existing version number of FOR009.DAT.

You can use the FILE and DEFAULTFILE specifiers in an OPEN statement to specify the complete definition of a particular file to be opened on a logical unit. For example:


  OPEN (UNIT=4, FILE='USERD:[SMITH]TEST.DAT;2', STATUS='OLD') 

In the preceding example, the existing file TEST.DAT;2 on device USERD in directory SMITH is to be opened on logical unit 4. Neither the default file specification (FOR004.DAT) nor the Fortran logical name FOR004 is used. The value of the FILE specifier can be a character constant, variable, or expression.

HP Fortran provides the following possible ways of specifying all or part of a file specification (directory and file name), such as DISK2:[PROJECT.DATA]:

In the following interactive example, the file name is supplied by the user and the DEFAULTFILE specifier supplies the default values for the file specification string. The file to be opened is in device and directory DISK4:[PROJ] and is merged with the file name typed by the user into the variable DOC:


     CHARACTER(LEN=40) DOC 
     WRITE (6,*)  'Type file name ' 
     READ (5,*) DOC 
     OPEN (UNIT=2, FILE=DOC, DEFAULTFILE='DISK4:[PROJ]',STATUS='OLD') 

The DEFAULTFILE specification overrides your process default device and directory.

You can also specify a logical name as the value of the FILE specifier, if the logical name is associated with a file specification. If the logical name LOGNAM is defined to be the file specification USERD:[SMITH]TEST.DAT, the logical name can then be used in an OPEN statement, as follows:


  OPEN (UNIT=19, FILE='LOGNAM', STATUS='OLD') 

When an I/O statement refers to logical unit 19, the system uses the file specification associated with logical name LOGNAM.

If the value specified for the FILE specifier has no associated file specification, it is regarded as a true file name rather than as a logical name. Suppose LOGNAM had not been previously associated with the file specification by using an ASSIGN or DEFINE command. The OPEN statement would indicate that a file named LOGNAM.DAT is located on the default device, in the default directory.

For an example program that reads a typed file name, uses the typed name to open a file, and handles such errors as the "file not found" error, see Example 7-1.

For a detailed description of OpenVMS file specifications, see the Guide to OpenVMS File Applications.

For More Information:

6.6.3 OPEN Statement Specifiers

The OPEN statement connects a unit number with an external file and allows you to explicitly specify file attributes and run-time options using OPEN statement specifiers. Once you open a file, you should close it before opening it again unless it is a preconnected file.

If you open a unit number that was opened previously (without being closed), one of the following occurs:

You can use the INQUIRE statement (see Section 6.7) to obtain information about a whether or not a file is opened by your program.

Especially when creating a new file using the OPEN statement, examine the defaults (see the description of the OPEN statement in the HP Fortran for OpenVMS Language Reference Manual) or explicitly specify file attributes with the appropriate OPEN statement specifiers.

The OPEN statement functions and their specifiers are:

For More Information:

Note

1 This specifier is an HP Fortran extension.


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