SIMSCRIPT II.5 Programming Language

SIMSCRIPT II.5 Programming Language
The above examples have assumed that each new read or write statement starts at the beginning
of a new data record or line. This need not always occur. All read and write statements operate
on a continuous string of characters and only skip to a new data record or output line when so instructed.
Thus, the two statements:
read X as I 5
and
read Y as D(10,2)
read successive fields from the same data record. Often, of course, data are split between data
records, or must be read from noncontiguous parts of the same data record. The current input pointer
and current output pointer are variables that point to the last referenced columns in the input and
output data streams. They can be advanced by the statements:
input record
or
start new output record
and
start new page
as previously described, and also by five non-numeric formats. These formats can be interspersed
among data formats, or they can appear alone in read and write statements. Examples of the use
of these formats are given following their description.
3.4.3.1 B (Beginning Column) Descriptor
This format is used to specify the position in which the first character of an item of input or output
data is found or displayed. The format B n positions the current input/output device at column n.
When several B format descriptors are used within a format list, they do not have to appear in ascending
numeric order. For instance, the format:
B 47, I 10, B 5, D(6,3), B 57, D(7,3), B 20, I 4
prints a line of the following form:
col 5 col 20 col 47 col 57
D(6,3) I4 I10 D(7,3)
______XX.XXX___...____XXXX___...__XXXXXXXXXX__...__XXX.XXX
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