6.1.1.2 Assumed-Size Arrays

An assumed-size array is a dummy array for which the upper bound of the last dimension is specified as an asterisk (*), for example:

SUBROUTINE SUB(A,N)
DIMENSION A(1:N,1:*)

If the lower bound of an assumed-size array is not specified, it is assumed to be 1. Therefore, the previous DIMENSION statement is equivalent to the following:

DIMENSION A(1:N,*)

The size of an assumed-size array and the number of elements that can be referenced are determined as follows:

• If the actual argument corresponding to the dummy array is a name of a noncharacter array, the size of the dummy array is the size of the actual-argument array.

• If the actual argument corresponding to the dummy argument is a name of a noncharacter array element, with a subscript value of s in an array of size a, the size of the dummy array is a+1-s.

• If the actual argument is a name of a character array, character array element, or character array element substring and begins at character storage unit b of an array with n character storage units, the size of the dummy array is INT(n+1-b)/y, where y is the length of an element of the dummy array.

Because the actual size of an assumed-size array is unknown, an assumed-size array name cannot be used as any of the following items in an I/O statement:

• An array name in the I/O list

• A unit identifier for an internal file

• A run-time format specifier