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4.2.33 ‘-n;’: Supply automatic semicolons [Fortran]

(Don't forget that a semicolon has special meaning to unix shells, so you'll probably have to quote this command: ‘-n';'’.)

This command functions the same as ‘-n@;’ (see -nAT;, except that actual (visible) semicolons rather than pseudo-semicolons are appended. This is the default mode of operation for Fortran-77 (and for that language, it cannot be turned off by negation).

The distinction between ‘-n@;’ and ‘-n;’ has to do with what is visible on output. In Fortran-77, semicolons are not printed by default since that seemed to annoy many users. However, that causes trouble with Fortran-90 code containing multiple statements per line, as in

     a = b; c = d

If ‘-np’ is not used, then the semicolon in the above example is not printed, hindering legibility. Thus, the default mode of operation for free-format Fortran-90 is ‘-n@;’ and ‘-np’. This turns the above example into ‘a = b; c = d@;’ and displays it correctly.

When ‘-n;’ is used, semicolons will not be printed by default. To force them to be printed, use the ‘-np’ option (see -np).

Do not insert semicolons by hand in Fortran-77; they are always inserted automatically. If you have terminated Fortran-90 statements by hand, turn off auto-semis by ‘-n;’ (and use ‘-np’ at your discretion).

The following table summarizes the defaults for auto-semi insertion and semicolon printing in Fortran, both fixed and free formats (`N/A' means `not applicable'):

Fixed Free
F77 -n;N/A
F90 -n;-n@; -np