1 <!--===- docs/Extensions.md
3 Part of the LLVM Project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM Exceptions.
4 See https://llvm.org/LICENSE.txt for license information.
5 SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception
9 # Fortran Extensions supported by Flang
16 As a general principle, this compiler will accept by default and
17 without complaint many legacy features, extensions to the standard
18 language, and features that have been deleted from the standard,
19 so long as the recognition of those features would not cause a
20 standard-conforming program to be rejected or misinterpreted.
22 Other non-standard features, which do conflict with the current
23 standard specification of the Fortran programming language, are
24 accepted if enabled by command-line options.
26 ## Intentional violations of the standard
28 * Scalar `INTEGER` actual argument expressions (not variables!)
29 are converted to the kinds of scalar `INTEGER` dummy arguments
30 when the interface is explicit and the kinds differ.
31 This conversion allows the results of the intrinsics like
32 `SIZE` that (as mentioned below) may return non-default
33 `INTEGER` results by default to be passed. A warning is
34 emitted when truncation is possible. These conversions
35 are not applied in calls to non-intrinsic generic procedures.
36 * We are not strict on the contents of `BLOCK DATA` subprograms
37 so long as they contain no executable code, no internal subprograms,
38 and allocate no storage outside a named `COMMON` block. (C1415)
39 * Delimited list-directed (and NAMELIST) character output is required
40 to emit contiguous doubled instances of the delimiter character
41 when it appears in the output value. When fixed-size records
42 are being emitted, as is the case with internal output, this
43 is not possible when the problematic character falls on the last
44 position of a record. No two other Fortran compilers do the same
45 thing in this situation so there is no good precedent to follow.
46 Because it seems least wrong, we emit one copy of the delimiter as
47 the last character of the current record and another as the first
48 character of the next record. (The second-least-wrong alternative
49 might be to flag a runtime error, but that seems harsh since it's
50 not an explicit error in the standard, and the output may not have
51 to be usable later as input anyway.)
52 Consequently, the output is not suitable for use as list-directed or
53 NAMELIST input. If a later standard were to clarify this case, this
54 behavior will change as needed to conform.
56 character(11) :: buffer(3)
57 character(10) :: quotes = '""""""""""'
58 write(buffer,*,delim="QUOTE") quotes
59 print "('>',a10,'<')", buffer
62 * The name of the control variable in an implied DO loop in an array
63 constructor or DATA statement has a scope over the value-list only,
64 not the bounds of the implied DO loop. It is not advisable to use
65 an object of the same name as the index variable in a bounds
66 expression, but it will work, instead of being needlessly undefined.
67 * If both the `COUNT=` and the `COUNT_MAX=` optional arguments are
68 present on the same call to the intrinsic subroutine `SYSTEM_CLOCK`,
69 we require that their types have the same integer kind, since the
70 kind of these arguments is used to select the clock rate.
71 In common with some other compilers, the clock is in milliseconds
72 for kinds <= 4 and nanoseconds otherwise where the target system
74 * If a dimension of a descriptor has zero extent in a call to
75 `CFI_section`, `CFI_setpointer` or `CFI_allocate`, the lower
76 bound on that dimension will be set to 1 for consistency with
77 the `LBOUND()` intrinsic function.
79 ## Extensions, deletions, and legacy features supported by default
82 * `<>` as synonym for `.NE.` and `/=`
83 * `$` and `@` as legal characters in names
84 * Initialization in type declaration statements using `/values/`
85 * Kind specification with `*`, e.g. `REAL*4`
87 * Signed complex literal constants
88 * DEC `STRUCTURE`, `RECORD`, with '%FILL'; but `UNION`, and `MAP`
89 are not yet supported throughout compilation, and elicit a
90 "not yet implemented" message.
91 * Structure field access with `.field`
92 * `BYTE` as synonym for `INTEGER(KIND=1)`
93 * Quad precision REAL literals with `Q`
94 * `X` prefix/suffix as synonym for `Z` on hexadecimal literals
95 * `B`, `O`, `Z`, and `X` accepted as suffixes as well as prefixes
96 * Triplets allowed in array constructors
97 * `%LOC`, `%VAL`, and `%REF`
98 * Leading comma allowed before I/O item list
99 * Empty parentheses allowed in `PROGRAM P()`
100 * Missing parentheses allowed in `FUNCTION F`
101 * Cray based `POINTER(p,x)` and `LOC()` intrinsic (with `%LOC()` as
103 * Arithmetic `IF`. (Which branch should NaN take? Fall through?)
104 * `ASSIGN` statement, assigned `GO TO`, and assigned format
106 * Hollerith literals and edit descriptors
107 * `NAMELIST` allowed in the execution part
108 * Omitted colons on type declaration statements with attributes
109 * COMPLEX constructor expression, e.g. `(x+y,z)`
110 * `+` and `-` before all primary expressions, e.g. `x*-y`
111 * `.NOT. .NOT.` accepted
112 * `NAME=` as synonym for `FILE=`
113 * Data edit descriptors without width or other details
114 * `D` lines in fixed form as comments or debug code
115 * `CARRIAGECONTROL=` on the OPEN and INQUIRE statements
116 * `CONVERT=` on the OPEN and INQUIRE statements
117 * `DISPOSE=` on the OPEN and INQUIRE statements
118 * Leading semicolons are ignored before any statement that
120 * The character `&` in column 1 in fixed form source is a variant form
121 of continuation line.
122 * Character literals as elements of an array constructor without an explicit
123 type specifier need not have the same length; the longest literal determines
124 the length parameter of the implicit type, not the first.
125 * Outside a character literal, a comment after a continuation marker (&)
126 need not begin with a comment marker (!).
127 * Classic C-style /*comments*/ are skipped, so multi-language header
128 files are easier to write and use.
129 * $ and \ edit descriptors are supported in FORMAT to suppress newline
130 output on user prompts.
131 * Tabs in format strings (not `FORMAT` statements) are allowed on output.
132 * REAL and DOUBLE PRECISION variable and bounds in DO loops
133 * Integer literals without explicit kind specifiers that are out of range
134 for the default kind of INTEGER are assumed to have the least larger kind
135 that can hold them, if one exists.
136 * BOZ literals can be used as INTEGER values in contexts where the type is
137 unambiguous: the right hand sides of assigments and initializations
138 of INTEGER entities, as actual arguments to a few intrinsic functions
139 (ACHAR, BTEST, CHAR), and as actual arguments of references to
140 procedures with explicit interfaces whose corresponding dummy
141 argument has a numeric type to which the BOZ literal may be
142 converted. BOZ literals are interpreted as default INTEGER only
143 when they appear as the first items of array constructors with no
144 explicit type. Otherwise, they generally cannot be used if the type would
145 not be known (e.g., `IAND(X'1',X'2')`).
146 * BOZ literals can also be used as REAL values in some contexts where the
147 type is unambiguous, such as initializations of REAL parameters.
148 * EQUIVALENCE of numeric and character sequences (a ubiquitous extension),
149 as well as of sequences of non-default kinds of numeric types
151 * Values for whole anonymous parent components in structure constructors
152 (e.g., `EXTENDEDTYPE(PARENTTYPE(1,2,3))` rather than `EXTENDEDTYPE(1,2,3)`
153 or `EXTENDEDTYPE(PARENTTYPE=PARENTTYPE(1,2,3))`).
154 * Some intrinsic functions are specified in the standard as requiring the
155 same type and kind for their arguments (viz., ATAN with two arguments,
156 ATAN2, DIM, HYPOT, MAX, MIN, MOD, and MODULO);
157 we allow distinct types to be used, promoting
158 the arguments as if they were operands to an intrinsic `+` operator,
159 and defining the result type accordingly.
160 * DOUBLE COMPLEX intrinsics DREAL, DCMPLX, DCONJG, and DIMAG.
161 * The DFLOAT intrinsic function.
162 * INT_PTR_KIND intrinsic returns the kind of c_intptr_t.
163 * Restricted specific conversion intrinsics FLOAT, SNGL, IDINT, IFIX, DREAL,
164 and DCMPLX accept arguments of any kind instead of only the default kind or
165 double precision kind. Their result kinds remain as specified.
166 * Specific intrinsics AMAX0, AMAX1, AMIN0, AMIN1, DMAX1, DMIN1, MAX0, MAX1,
167 MIN0, and MIN1 accept more argument types than specified. They are replaced by
168 the related generics followed by conversions to the specified result types.
169 * When a scalar CHARACTER actual argument of the same kind is known to
170 have a length shorter than the associated dummy argument, it is extended
171 on the right with blanks, similar to assignment.
172 * When a dummy argument is `POINTER` or `ALLOCATABLE` and is `INTENT(IN)`, we
173 relax enforcement of some requirements on actual arguments that must otherwise
174 hold true for definable arguments.
175 * Assignment of `LOGICAL` to `INTEGER` and vice versa (but not other types) is
176 allowed. The values are normalized.
177 * Static initialization of `LOGICAL` with `INTEGER` is allowed in `DATA` statements
178 and object initializers.
179 The results are *not* normalized to canonical `.TRUE.`/`.FALSE.`.
180 Static initialization of `INTEGER` with `LOGICAL` is also permitted.
181 * An effectively empty source file (no program unit) is accepted and
182 produces an empty relocatable output file.
183 * A `RETURN` statement may appear in a main program.
184 * DATA statement initialization is allowed for procedure pointers outside
185 structure constructors.
186 * Nonstandard intrinsic functions: ISNAN, SIZEOF
187 * A forward reference to a default INTEGER scalar dummy argument is
188 permitted to appear in a specification expression, such as an array
189 bound, in a scope with IMPLICIT NONE(TYPE) if the name
190 of the dummy argument would have caused it to be implicitly typed
191 as default INTEGER if IMPLICIT NONE(TYPE) were absent.
192 * OPEN(ACCESS='APPEND') is interpreted as OPEN(POSITION='APPEND')
193 to ease porting from Sun Fortran.
194 * Intrinsic subroutines EXIT([status]) and ABORT()
195 * The definition of simple contiguity in 9.5.4 applies only to arrays;
196 we also treat scalars as being trivially contiguous, so that they
197 can be used in contexts like data targets in pointer assignments
198 with bounds remapping.
199 * We support some combinations of specific procedures in generic
200 interfaces that a strict reading of the standard would preclude
201 when their calls must nonetheless be distinguishable.
202 Specifically, `ALLOCATABLE` dummy arguments are distinguishing
203 if an actual argument acceptable to one could not be passed to
204 the other & vice versa because exactly one is polymorphic or
205 exactly one is unlimited polymorphic).
206 * External unit 0 is predefined and connected to the standard error output,
207 and defined as `ERROR_UNIT` in the intrinsic `ISO_FORTRAN_ENV` module.
208 * Objects in blank COMMON may be initialized.
209 * Multiple specifications of the SAVE attribute on the same object
210 are allowed, with a warning.
211 * Specific intrinsic functions BABS, IIABS, JIABS, KIABS, ZABS, and CDABS.
212 * A `POINTER` component's type need not be a sequence type when
213 the component appears in a derived type with `SEQUENCE`.
214 (This case should probably be an exception to constraint C740 in
216 * Format expressions that have type but are not character and not
217 integer scalars are accepted so long as they are simply contiguous.
218 This legacy extension supports pre-Fortran'77 usage in which
219 variables initialized in DATA statements with Hollerith literals
220 as modifiable formats.
221 * At runtime, `NAMELIST` input will skip over `NAMELIST` groups
222 with other names, and will treat text before and between groups
223 as if they were comment lines, even if not begun with `!`.
224 * Commas are required in FORMAT statements and character variables
225 only when they prevent ambiguity.
227 ### Extensions supported when enabled by options
229 * C-style backslash escape sequences in quoted CHARACTER literals
230 (but not Hollerith) [-fbackslash]
231 * Logical abbreviations `.T.`, `.F.`, `.N.`, `.A.`, `.O.`, and `.X.`
232 [-flogical-abbreviations]
233 * `.XOR.` as a synonym for `.NEQV.` [-fxor-operator]
234 * The default `INTEGER` type is required by the standard to occupy
235 the same amount of storage as the default `REAL` type. Default
236 `REAL` is of course 32-bit IEEE-754 floating-point today. This legacy
237 rule imposes an artificially small constraint in some cases
238 where Fortran mandates that something have the default `INTEGER`
239 type: specifically, the results of references to the intrinsic functions
240 `SIZE`, `STORAGE_SIZE`,`LBOUND`, `UBOUND`, `SHAPE`, and the location reductions
241 `FINDLOC`, `MAXLOC`, and `MINLOC` in the absence of an explicit
242 `KIND=` actual argument. We return `INTEGER(KIND=8)` by default in
243 these cases when the `-flarge-sizes` option is enabled.
244 `SIZEOF` and `C_SIZEOF` always return `INTEGER(KIND=8)`.
245 * Treat each specification-part like is has `IMPLICIT NONE`
246 [-fimplicit-none-type-always]
247 * Ignore occurrences of `IMPLICIT NONE` and `IMPLICIT NONE(TYPE)`
248 [-fimplicit-none-type-never]
249 * Old-style `PARAMETER pi=3.14` statement without parentheses
250 [-falternative-parameter-statement]
252 ### Extensions and legacy features deliberately not supported
254 * `.LG.` as synonym for `.NE.`
256 * Allocatable `COMMON`
257 * Expressions in formats
258 * `ACCEPT` as synonym for `READ *`
259 * `TYPE` as synonym for `PRINT`
260 * `ARRAY` as synonym for `DIMENSION`
261 * `VIRTUAL` as synonym for `DIMENSION`
262 * `ENCODE` and `DECODE` as synonyms for internal I/O
263 * `IMPLICIT AUTOMATIC`, `IMPLICIT STATIC`
264 * Default exponent of zero, e.g. `3.14159E`
265 * Characters in defined operators that are neither letters nor digits
266 * `B` suffix on unquoted octal constants
267 * `Z` prefix on unquoted hexadecimal constants (dangerous)
268 * `T` and `F` as abbreviations for `.TRUE.` and `.FALSE.` in DATA (PGI/XLF)
269 * Use of host FORMAT labels in internal subprograms (PGI-only feature)
270 * ALLOCATE(TYPE(derived)::...) as variant of correct ALLOCATE(derived::...) (PGI only)
271 * Defining an explicit interface for a subprogram within itself (PGI only)
272 * USE association of a procedure interface within that same procedure's definition
273 * NULL() as a structure constructor expression for an ALLOCATABLE component (PGI).
274 * Conversion of LOGICAL to INTEGER in expressions.
275 * IF (integer expression) THEN ... END IF (PGI/Intel)
276 * Comparsion of LOGICAL with ==/.EQ. rather than .EQV. (also .NEQV.) (PGI/Intel)
277 * Procedure pointers in COMMON blocks (PGI/Intel)
278 * Underindexing multi-dimensional arrays (e.g., A(1) rather than A(1,1)) (PGI only)
279 * Legacy PGI `NCHARACTER` type and `NC` Kanji character literals
280 * Using non-integer expressions for array bounds (e.g., REAL A(3.14159)) (PGI/Intel)
281 * Mixing INTEGER types as operands to bit intrinsics (e.g., IAND); only two
282 compilers support it, and they disagree on sign extension.
283 * Module & program names that conflict with an object inside the unit (PGI only).
284 * When the same name is brought into scope via USE association from
285 multiple modules, the name must refer to a generic interface; PGI
286 allows a name to be a procedure from one module and a generic interface
288 * Type parameter declarations must come first in a derived type definition;
289 some compilers allow them to follow `PRIVATE`, or be intermixed with the
290 component declarations.
291 * Wrong argument types in calls to specific intrinsics that have different names than the
292 related generics. Some accepted exceptions are listed above in the allowed extensions.
293 PGI, Intel, and XLF support this in ways that are not numerically equivalent.
294 PGI converts the arguments while Intel and XLF replace the specific by the related generic.
296 ## Preprocessing behavior
298 * The preprocessor is always run, whatever the filename extension may be.
299 * We respect Fortran comments in macro actual arguments (like GNU, Intel, NAG;
300 unlike PGI and XLF) on the principle that macro calls should be treated
301 like function references. Fortran's line continuation methods also work.
303 ## Standard features not silently accepted
305 * Fortran explicitly ignores type declaration statements when they
306 attempt to type the name of a generic intrinsic function (8.2 p3).
307 One can declare `CHARACTER::COS` and still get a real result
308 from `COS(3.14159)`, for example. f18 will complain when a
309 generic intrinsic function's inferred result type does not
310 match an explicit declaration. This message is a warning.
312 ## Standard features that might as well not be
314 * f18 supports designators with constant expressions, properly
315 constrained, as initial data targets for data pointers in
316 initializers of variable and component declarations and in
317 `DATA` statements; e.g., `REAL, POINTER :: P => T(1:10:2)`.
318 This Fortran 2008 feature might as well be viewed like an
319 extension; no other compiler that we've tested can handle
322 ## Behavior in cases where the standard is ambiguous or indefinite
324 * When an inner procedure of a subprogram uses the value or an attribute
325 of an undeclared name in a specification expression and that name does
326 not appear in the host, it is not clear in the standard whether that
327 name is an implicitly typed local variable of the inner procedure or a
328 host association with an implicitly typed local variable of the host.
334 ! Although "m" never appears in the specification or executable
335 ! parts of this subroutine, both of its contained subroutines
336 ! might be accessing it via host association.
337 integer, intent(in out) :: j
342 integer(kind(m)), intent(in) :: n
346 integer(kind(m)), intent(out) :: n
357 print *, k, " should be 3"
362 Other Fortran compilers disagree in their interpretations of this example;
363 some seem to treat the references to `m` as if they were host associations
364 to an implicitly typed variable (and print `3`), while others seem to
365 treat them as references to implicitly typed local variabless, and
366 load uninitialized values.
368 In f18, we chose to emit an error message for this case since the standard
369 is unclear, the usage is not portable, and the issue can be easily resolved
370 by adding a declaration.
372 * In subclause 7.5.6.2 of Fortran 2018 the standard defines a partial ordering
373 of the final subroutine calls for finalizable objects, their non-parent
374 components, and then their parent components.
375 (The object is finalized, then the non-parent components of each element,
376 and then the parent component.)
377 Some have argued that the standard permits an implementation
378 to finalize the parent component before finalizing an allocatable component in
379 the context of deallocation, and the next revision of the language may codify
381 In the interest of avoiding needless confusion, this compiler implements what
382 we believe to be the least surprising order of finalization.
383 Specifically: all non-parent components are finalized before
384 the parent, allocatable or not;
385 all finalization takes place before any deallocation;
386 and no object or subobject will be finalized more than once.
388 * When `RECL=` is set via the `OPEN` statement for a sequential formatted input
389 file, it functions as an effective maximum record length.
390 Longer records, if any, will appear as if they had been truncated to
391 the value of `RECL=`.
392 (Other compilers ignore `RECL=`, signal an error, or apply effective truncation
393 to some forms of input in this situation.)
394 For sequential formatted output, RECL= serves as a limit on record lengths
395 that raises an error when it is exceeded.