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PASS STRING ARGUMENTS ...

Syntax:

PASS STRING ARGUMENTS BY DESCRIPTOR PASS STRING ARGUMENTS BY REFERENCE PASS STRING ARGUMENTS BY ADDRESS AND LENGTH

Function:

Specifies the default protocol by which string arguments are passed to sub-programs. The alternatives are:

BY DESCRIPTOR: A descriptor is a structure which describes the address, data type and data size (for a string, the length) of an object. The argument is passed as the address of a descriptor, therefore as a single object in the argument list. VMS and a small number of other systems use this mechanism.

BY REFERENCE: The address of the string is passed but not the length. The length is known and declared in the called routine. This mechanism is used by some older Fortran systems and in some VMS/RSX11 system services.

BY ADDRESS AND LENGTH: The address and length of the string are passed as separate objects. This is the mechanism used by most Linux and Unix compilers and by Compaq Visual Fortran.

This command controls the checking of arguments carried out by FPT.

Where to use this command:

Operating system command line	Yes
Configuration file, config.fsp	Yes
Specification (FSP) files, *.fsp	Yes
Interactively, to FPT> prompt:	No
Interactive command files	No
Embedded in the Fortran code	Yes

Default:

PASS STRING ARGUMENTS BY ADDRESS AND LENGTH

(Note that defaults may be changed in the configuration file).

See Also

CHECK ARGUMENTS