• A variable or type name must begin with an alphabetic character, which can be followed by alphanumeric characters. In VMS and Windows, it can also be followed by underscores.

• For information on the allowable data_types, see Data Types (see page Data Types) in this chapter.

• The default_type_len specifies the size of the variable being declared. For variables of numeric type, it must be represented by an integer literal of an acceptable length for the particular data type. For variables of character type, it can be represented by an integer literal or a parenthesized expression followed optionally by a comma. The preprocessor does not parse the length field for variables of type character. Note the default type lengths in the declarations shown below:

• The type_len allows you to declare a variable with a length different from default_type_len. Again, you can use a parenthesized expression only to declare the length of character variable declarations. The type length for a numeric variable must be an integer literal representing an acceptable numeric size. For example:

• The data type and variable names must be legal Fortran identifiers beginning with an alphabetic character. In VMS, it can also begin with an underscore.

• The array_spec should conform to Fortran syntax rules. The preprocessor simply notes that the declared variable is an array but does not parse the array_spec clause. Note that if you specify both an array and a type length, the order of those two clauses differs depending on whether the variable being declared is of character or numeric type. The following are examples of array declarations:

• The preprocessor allows you to initialize a variable or array in the declaration statement by means of the init_clause. The preprocessor accepts, but does not examine, any initial data. The Fortran compiler, however, will later detect any errors in the initial data. For example: