Fortran::Format version 0.90
============================

This is a Perl implementation of the Fortran 77 formatted input/output
facility.  One possible use is for producing input files for old Fortran
programs, making sure that their column-oriented records are rigorously
correct. Fortran formats may also have some advantages over C<printf> in some
cases: it is very easy to output an array, reusing the format as needed; and
the syntax for repeated columns is more concise. Unlike C<printf>, for good or
ill, Fortran-formatted fields B<never> exceed their desired width. For
example, compare

    printf "%3d", 12345;                            # prints "12345"
    print Fortran::Format->new("I3")->write(12345); # prints "***"

This implementation was written in pure Perl, with portability and correctness
in mind. It implements the full ANSI standard for Fortran 77 Formats (or at
least it should). It was not written with speed in mind, so if you need to
process millions of records it may not be what you need.

CHANGES SINCE VERSON 0.54

        - Added reading support! (some bugs may be lurking there)
        - INCOMPATIBLE CHANGE: matrices will be transposed on writing;
          non-rectangular nested arrays result in undefined behavior.
        - Fixed bug where 2(I8),I2 would reuse only the 2(I8) on subsequent
          lines instead of reusing the whole format string.

INSTALLATION

To install this module type the following:

   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make test
   make install

DEPENDENCIES

None, except Test::Simple and Test::Pod for testing.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2005 Ivan Tubert-Brohman <itub@cpan.org>

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself. 

