In Fortran90 I would like to set the format of an output using a variable. My code looks like this:
fileUnit = 14
myFormat = '(10e18.10)'
write (fileUnit,myFormat) myData
The value of myFormat can be any allowed for the type of myData. Is there a way to set myFormat such that the output is equivalent to coding
write (fileUnit,*) myData
You cannot use a bare * in an explicit format specification like you can in a read or write statement. In the explicit format context, * represents an unlimited-format-item group that gives an infinite repeat count to a group of format-items rather than representing list directed formatting (see Cl. 9.6.2.2, R915, Fortran 2008).
The character variable holding your explicit format can be constructed at run-time, so your option to handle dynamic needs is to write code to determine the proper format specification based upon your data. Depending on your compiler, and if your data is a derived type, you may also have the option of defined output (See Cl. 9.6.4.8.3 Fortran 2008) to handle your needs.
If you want to programmatically switch between explicit and list directed format you could do something like this:
if(myFormat.eq.'*')then
write(unit,*)...
else
write(unit,myFormat)...
end if
Related
This question has been covered somewhat in previous SO questions. However, previous discussions seem somewhat incomplete.
Fortran has several I/O statements. There is READ(*,*) and WRITE(*,*), etc. The first asterisk (*) is the standard asterisk designating an input or output from the keyboard to/from the screen. My question is about the second asterisk:
The second asterisk designates the format of the I/O elements, the data TYPE which is being used. If this asterisk is left unchanged, the fortran complier uses the default format (whatever that may be, based on the compiler). Users must use a number of format descriptors to designate the data type, precision, and so forth.
(1) Are these format descriptors universal for all Fortran compilers and for all versions of Fortran?
(2) Where can I find the standard list of these format descriptors? For example, F8.3 means that the number should be printed using fixed point notation with field width 8 and 3 decimal places.
EDIT: A reference for edit descriptors can be found here: http://fortranwiki.org/fortran/show/Edit+descriptors
First, as a clarification, the 1st asterisk in the READ/WRITE statement has a slightly different meaning than you state. For write, it means write to the default file unit (in linux world generally standard out), for read it means read from the default file unit (in linux world generally standard in), either of which may not necessarily be connected to a terminal screen or a keyboard.
The 2nd asterisk means use list directed IO. For read statements this is generally useful because you don't need a specified format for your input. It breaks up the line into fields separated by space or comma (maybe a couple others that aren't commonly used), and reads each field in turn into the variable associated with that field in the argument list, ignoring unread fields, and continuing onto the next line if not enough fields were read in (unless a line termination character \ is explicitly included).
For writes, it means the compiler is allowed to determine what format to write the variables out (I believe with no separator). I believe it is allowed to do this at run time, so that you are all but guaranteed that the value it is trying to write will fit into the format specifier used, so you can be assured that you won't get ******* written out. The down side is you have to manually include a separator character in your argument list, or all your numbers will run together.
In general, using list directed read is more of a convenience to the user, so they don't have to fit their inputs into rigidly defined fields, and list directed writes are a convenience to the programmer, in case they're not sure what the output will look like.
When you have a data transfer statement like read(*,*) ... it's helpful to understand exactly what this means. read(*,*) is equivalent to the more verbose read(unit=*, fmt=*). This second asterisk, as you have it, makes this read statement (or corresponding write statement) list-directed.
List-directed input/output, as described elsewhere, is a convenience for the programmer. The Fortran standards specify lots of constraints that the compiler must follow, but this language has things like "reasonable values", so allowing output to vary by compiler, settings, and so on.
Again, as described elsewhere, fine user control over the output (or input) comes with giving a format specification. Instead of read(*,fmt=*), something like read(*,fmt=1014) or read(*,fmt=format_variable_or_literal). I take it your question is: what is this format specification?
I won't go into details of all of the possible edit descriptors, but I will say in response to (2): you can find the list of those edit descriptors in the Fortran standard (Clause 10 of Fortran 2008 goes into all the detail) or a good reference book.
To answer (1): no, edit descriptors are not universal. Even across Fortran standards. Of note are:
The introduction of I0 (and other minimal-width specifiers) for output in Fortran 95;
The removal of the H edit descriptor in Fortran 95;
The introduction of the DT edit descriptor in Fortran 2003.
This question has been covered somewhat in previous SO questions. However, previous discussions seem somewhat incomplete.
Fortran has several I/O statements. There is READ(*,*) and WRITE(*,*), etc. The first asterisk (*) is the standard asterisk designating an input or output from the keyboard to/from the screen. My question is about the second asterisk:
The second asterisk designates the format of the I/O elements, the data TYPE which is being used. If this asterisk is left unchanged, the fortran complier uses the default format (whatever that may be, based on the compiler). Users must use a number of format descriptors to designate the data type, precision, and so forth.
(1) Are these format descriptors universal for all Fortran compilers and for all versions of Fortran?
(2) Where can I find the standard list of these format descriptors? For example, F8.3 means that the number should be printed using fixed point notation with field width 8 and 3 decimal places.
EDIT: A reference for edit descriptors can be found here: http://fortranwiki.org/fortran/show/Edit+descriptors
First, as a clarification, the 1st asterisk in the READ/WRITE statement has a slightly different meaning than you state. For write, it means write to the default file unit (in linux world generally standard out), for read it means read from the default file unit (in linux world generally standard in), either of which may not necessarily be connected to a terminal screen or a keyboard.
The 2nd asterisk means use list directed IO. For read statements this is generally useful because you don't need a specified format for your input. It breaks up the line into fields separated by space or comma (maybe a couple others that aren't commonly used), and reads each field in turn into the variable associated with that field in the argument list, ignoring unread fields, and continuing onto the next line if not enough fields were read in (unless a line termination character \ is explicitly included).
For writes, it means the compiler is allowed to determine what format to write the variables out (I believe with no separator). I believe it is allowed to do this at run time, so that you are all but guaranteed that the value it is trying to write will fit into the format specifier used, so you can be assured that you won't get ******* written out. The down side is you have to manually include a separator character in your argument list, or all your numbers will run together.
In general, using list directed read is more of a convenience to the user, so they don't have to fit their inputs into rigidly defined fields, and list directed writes are a convenience to the programmer, in case they're not sure what the output will look like.
When you have a data transfer statement like read(*,*) ... it's helpful to understand exactly what this means. read(*,*) is equivalent to the more verbose read(unit=*, fmt=*). This second asterisk, as you have it, makes this read statement (or corresponding write statement) list-directed.
List-directed input/output, as described elsewhere, is a convenience for the programmer. The Fortran standards specify lots of constraints that the compiler must follow, but this language has things like "reasonable values", so allowing output to vary by compiler, settings, and so on.
Again, as described elsewhere, fine user control over the output (or input) comes with giving a format specification. Instead of read(*,fmt=*), something like read(*,fmt=1014) or read(*,fmt=format_variable_or_literal). I take it your question is: what is this format specification?
I won't go into details of all of the possible edit descriptors, but I will say in response to (2): you can find the list of those edit descriptors in the Fortran standard (Clause 10 of Fortran 2008 goes into all the detail) or a good reference book.
To answer (1): no, edit descriptors are not universal. Even across Fortran standards. Of note are:
The introduction of I0 (and other minimal-width specifiers) for output in Fortran 95;
The removal of the H edit descriptor in Fortran 95;
The introduction of the DT edit descriptor in Fortran 2003.
Can I specify a format specifier for a complex number in fortran? I have a simple program.
program complx1
implicit none
complex :: var1
var1 = (10,20)
write (*,*) var1
write (*,'(F0.0)') var1
write (*,'(F0.0,A,F0.0)') real(var1), ' + i ' , aimag(var1)
end program complx1
Output:
( 10.0000000 , 20.0000000 )
10.
20.
10. + i 20.
I wanted to use inbuilt format for a+bi with some format specifier, instead of one did manually (second last line of program). Obviously F0.0 did not work. Any ideas?
EDIT:
I don't think this is a duplicate of post: writing complex matrix in fortran, which says to use REAL and AIMAG functions. I already used those functions and wondering whether there is an inbuilt format that can do the work.
An addendum to #francescalus' existing, and mostly satisfactory, answer. A format string such as
fmt = '(F0.0,SP,F0.0,"i")'
should result in a complex number being displayed with the correct sign between real and imaginary parts; no need to fiddle around with strings to get a plus sign in there.
There is no distinct complex edit descriptor. In Fortran 2008, 10.7.2.3.6 we see
A complex datum consists of a pair of separate real data. The editing of a scalar datum of complex type is specified by two edit descriptors each of which specifies the editing of real data.
In your second example, which you say "did not work", you see this formatting in action. Because the format had only one descriptor with no repeat count the values are output in distinct records (format reversion).
The first of your three cases is a very special one: it uses list-directed output. The rules for the output are
Complex constants are enclosed in parentheses with a separator between the real and imaginary parts
There is another useful part of the first rule mentioned:
Control and character string edit descriptors may be processed between the edit descriptor for the real part and the edit descriptor for the imaginary part.
You could happily adapt your second attempt, as we note that your "not working" wasn't because of the use of the complex variable itself (rather than the real and imaginary components)
write (*, '(F0.0,"+i",F0.0)') var1
This, though, isn't right when you have potentially negative complex part. You'll need to change the sign in the middle. This is possible, using a character variable format (rather than literal) with a conditional, but it perhaps isn't worth the effort. See another answer for details of another approach, similar to your third option but more robust.
Another option is to write a function which returns a correctly written character representation of your complex variable. That's like your third option. It is also the least messy approach when you want to write out many complex variables.
Finally, if you do have to worry about negative complex parts but want a simple specification of the variable list, there is the truly ugly
write(*,'(F0.0,"+i*(",F0.0,")")') var1
or the imaginative
character(19) fmt
fmt = '(F0.0,"+",F0.0,"i")'
fmt(8:8) = MERGE('+',' ',var1%im.gt.0)
write(*,fmt) var1
or the even better use of the SP control edit descriptor as given by High Performance Mark's answer which temporarily (for the duration of the output statement) sets the sign mode of the transfer to PLUS which forces the printing of the otherwise optional "+" sign. [Alternatively, this can be set for the connection itself in an open with the sign='plus' specifier.]
All this is because the simple answer is: no, there is no in-built complex edit descriptor.
Is there a way to take a string as an input argument to a c++ function and evaluate it as an internal argument e.g. the name of a structure or other variable?
For example (written in pseudo code)
int myFunction(string nameStructure){
nameStructure.field = 1234
}
The "take away" point is converting the input string as a variable within the code.
Mark
This type of question is often a symptom of a XY problem so consider other options first. That being said, there's no such default mechanism in C++ but there is a simple workaround I can think of - use a dictionary (std::map / std::unordered_map) to store all your objects:
std::map<std::string, MyAwesomeObject> objects;
...
int myFunction(std::string nameStructure)
{
objects[nameStructure].field = 1234
}
The names of local variables are just artifacts of the human-readable code and have no meaning in the compiled binary. Your int myIntVar's and char* myCharP's get turned into instructions like "four bytes starting at the location of the base pointer minus eight bytes, interpreted as a four-byte integer". They no longer have names as such.
If you export symbols from your binary, you can at runtime to look into export table according to your binary format and find the variable you want. But i bet you want something like access to local variable and that is not possible.
If you really need this funcionality, take a look at more dynamic interpreted languages as php
http://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.variable.php
Why is it necessary to specify the datatype of a variable? What if my program requires the user to enter data that could belong to any one of two non intersecting data types? Shouldn't the option of declaring a variable without specifying a variable be provided so as to account for a situation. Why can't we let the computer decide the data type on the basis of user input? If the compiler has enough capability to identify a type error, I'm sure it can easily specify a data type on the basis of the input.
Compilers don't deal with input, so that's no option.
There's boost::variant<T,U> which is a type can hold either T or U values, but you still have to specify to the compiler all possible options, and you have to make clear what you put in.
User input always starts out as a string. Parsing turns that into types, but the result depends on the actual parsing. If you're parsing float values, 0 is a perfectly fine float value.