# OPEN: BLANK Specifier

The BLANK specifier indicates how blanks are interpreted in a file. It takes the following form:

BLANK = blnk

blnk | Is a scalar default character expression that evaluates to one of the following values:
'NULL' | Indicates all blanks are ignored, except for an all-blank field (which has a value of zero).
'ZERO' | Indicates all blanks (other than leading blanks) are treated as zeros.

The default is 'NULL' (for explicitly OPENed files, preconnected files, and internal files). If you specify compiler option f66 (or OPTIONS/NOF77), the default is 'ZERO'.

If the BN or BZ edit descriptors are specified for a formatted input statement, they supersede the default interpretation of blanks.

This specifier is not allowed on unformatted input or output.

Parent topic: OPEN Statement Specifiers

## See Also

Blank Editing for details on the BN and BZ edit descriptors
f66