# OPEN: DISPOSE Specifier

The DISPOSE (or DISP) specifier indicates the status of the file after the unit is closed. It takes one of the following forms:

DISPOSE = dis

DISP = dis

dis | Is a scalar default character expression that evaluates to one of the following values:
'KEEP' or 'SAVE' | Retains the file after the unit closes.
'DELETE' | Deletes the file after the unit closes.
'PRINT' 1 | Submits the file to the line printer spooler and retains it.
'PRINT/DELETE' 1 | Submits the file to the line printer spooler and then deletes it.
'SUBMIT' | Forks a process to execute the file.
'SUBMIT/DELETE' | Forks a process to execute the file, and then deletes the file after the fork is completed.
1 Use only on sequential files.

The default is 'DELETE' for scratch files. For all other files, the default is 'KEEP'.

On Windows*, PRINT and the PRINT part of PRINT/DELETE do not use the system PRINT command. One of the following occurs:

- If you set the environment variable FOR_DEFAULT_PRINT_DEVICE to a print device, the Fortran run-time will copy the file to that device.

- Otherwise, the Fortran run-time will copy the file to a new file named "PRN-FILE". In this case, you will need to do the actual printing

Parent topic: OPEN Statement Specifiers