LUSGR@VAX1.CC.LEHIGH.EDU (STEVE ROSEMAN) (05/23/88)
> From: gr47 <sdcc6!sdcc12!gr47@ucsd.EDU> > Subject: Curious as to how Fortran BACKSPACE works > I am curious as to how Fortran BACKSPACE works. I vaguely remember > reading in one of the orange manuals that BACKSPACE simply causes > the logical unit to be rewound and read from THE BEGINNING forward to > the record immediately preceding the current one. Is this true? > How are huge time delays avoided when BACKSPACE'ing large files, or > are delays not avoided? Or do I remember wrong, and does BACKSPACE > use the saved (?) position of the start of the previous record to do > its task? It appears the above is true. I did some timing tests a few months ago, and it takes a rather long time to go back 1 record in a large file. Steve Roseman Lehigh University Computing Center LUSGR@VAX1.CC.LEHIGH.EDU or LUSGR@LEHICDC1.BITNET