VMS Help FORTRAN, Statements, OPEN, RECORDTYPE  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

  RECORDTYPE = typ

  typ  Is a character expression with one of the following
       values:

  'FIXED'      All records are one size. Short records are padded
               with blanks (formatted files) or zeros (unformatted
               files).

  'VARIABLE'   Records can vary in length.

  'SEGMENTED'  A record consists of one or more variable length
               records, which can exist in different physical blocks.
               Valid only for unformatted, sequential files with
               sequential access.

  'STREAM'     Data is not grouped into records and contains no
               control information.

  'STREAM_CR'  Variable-length records whose length is indicated by
               carriage-returns embedded in the data.

  'STREAM_LF'  Variable-length records whose length is indicated by
               line-feeds (new lines) embedded in the data.

  When you open a file, default record types are as follows:

  +-------------------------------------+---------------------+
  | File Type                           | Default Record Type |
  +-------------------------------------+---------------------+
  | Relative or indexed files           | 'FIXED'             |
  | Direct access sequential files      | 'FIXED'             |
  | Formatted sequential access files   | 'VARIABLE'          |
  | Unformatted sequential access files | 'SEGMENTED'         |
  +-------------------------------------+---------------------+

  A segmented record consists of one or more variable-length records.
  Using segmented records allows a Fortran logical record to span
  several physical records.  Only unformatted sequential access files
  with sequential organization can use segmented records.  You cannot
  specify <SINGLE_QUOTE>SEGMENTED<SINGLE_QUOTE> for any other file
  type.

  If you do not specify the RECORDTYPE parameter when you are
  accessing an existing file, the record type of the file is used ---
  except for unformatted sequential-access files with sequential
  organization and variable-length records.  These files have a
  default of 'SEGMENTED'.

  If you do specify the RECORDTYPE parameter when you are accessing
  an existing file, the type that you specify must match the type of
  an existing file.

  In fixed-length record files, if an output statement does not
  specify a full record, the record is filled with spaces in a
  formatted file and zeros in an unformatted file.

  You cannot use an unformatted READ statement to access an
  unformatted sequential organization file containing variable-length
  records, unless you specify the corresponding RECORDTYPE value in
  your OPEN statement.

  Files containing segmented records can be accessed only by
  unformatted sequential Fortran I/O statements.