Advance Specifier (ADVANCE=)

The advance specifier determines whether nonadvancing I/O occurs for a data transfer statement. It takes the following form:

ADVANCE=c-expr

c-expr

Is a scalar character expression that evaluates to 'YES' for advancing I/O or 'NO' for nonadvancing I/O. The default value is 'YES'. Trailing blanks in the expression are ignored. The values specified are without regard to case.

The ADVANCE specifier can appear only in a formatted, sequential data transfer statement that specifies an external unit. It must not be specified for list-directed or namelist data transfer.

Advancing I/O always positions a file at the end of a record, unless an error condition occurs. Nonadvancing I/O can position a file at a character position within the current record.