(j3.2006) G editing to a narrow output field

[Robert Corbett]

The FORTRAN 77 standard and all subsequent Fortran
editions of the Fortran standard say that the
"equivalent conversion" for editing the value 1.0
under a G6.5 edit descriptor is

      F2.4,4(' ')

where the established scale factor is ignored.  I
take this to mean that the characters to be produced
by editing the value 1.0 under a G6.5 edit descriptor
are the characters that would be produced by editing
the value 1.0 under the edit descriptors

      F2.4,4(' ')

where the scale factor is to be treated as zero
regardless of the established scale factor.

I do not find it more intuitive to say that editing
the value 1.0 under a G6.5 edit descriptor produces
the characters that would be produced by editing
the 1.0 under the edit descriptors

      F2.4,4(' ')

where the scale factor is treated as zero
regardless of the established scale factor except
that the output field is filled with asterisks if
the characters produced by editing the value 1.0
under the F2.4 edit descriptor exceeds the field
width of the F2.4 edit descriptor.

Robert Corbett