# Slash Editing ( / )

The slash edit descriptor terminates data transfer for the current record and starts data transfer for a new record. It takes the following form:

[r]/

The r is a repeat specification. It must be a positive default integer literal constant; no kind parameter can be specified.

The range of r is 1 through 2147483647 (2**31-1) on Intel® 64 architecture; 1 through 32767 (2**15-1) on IA-32 architecture. If r is omitted, it is assumed to be 1.

Multiple slashes cause the system to skip input records or to output blank records, as follows:

- When n consecutive slashes appear between two edit descriptors, n - 1 records are skipped on input, or n - 1 blank records are output. The first slash terminates the current record. The second slash terminates the first skipped or blank record, and so on.

- When n consecutive slashes appear at the beginning or end of a format specification, n records are skipped or n blank records are output, because the opening and closing parentheses of the format specification are themselves a record initiator and terminator, respectively. For example, suppose the following statements are specified:

           WRITE (6,99)
      99   FORMAT ('1',T51,'HEADING LINE'//T51,'SUBHEADING LINE'//)

  The following lines are written:

                        Column 50, top of page         |         HEADING LINE
      (blank line)         SUBHEADING LINE
      (blank line)
      (blank line)

  Note that the first character of the record printed was reserved as a control character (see Printing of Formatted Records).

## Examples

     !     The following statements write spreadsheet column and row labels:
           WRITE (*, 100)
     100   FORMAT ('   A     B     C     D     E'                             &
          &        /,' 1',/,' 2',/,' 3',/,' 4',/,' 5')

The above example generates the following output:

       A     B     C     D     E
     1
     2
     3
     4
     5

Parent topic: Control Edit Descriptors

## See Also

Forms for Control Edit Descriptors