The character count specifier defines a variable to contain the count of how many characters are read when a nonadvancing READ statement terminates. It takes the following form:
If PAD='YES' was specified for file connection, blanks inserted as padding are not counted.
The SIZE specifier can appear only in a formatted, sequential READ statement that has the specifier ADVANCE='NO' (nonadvancing input). It must not be specified for list-directed or namelist data transfer.