The maximum number of continuation lines varies between compilers. The Fortran 77 standard requires at least 19, and this is the maximum number supported by Salford FTN77. The Fortran 90 standard specifies 39. VMS allows 99 continuation lines, but in fact the number is controlled by the size of a character buffer, which is large enough to hold 100*132 characters, and statements with considerably more than 100 lines may be encountered. The Gould-SEL (Encore) MPX compilers appear to have no practical limit.

FPT can sub-divide most declaration statements, and will attempt to squeeze executable statements into a user-selected number of lines. The command is, for example:

Maximum number of continuation lines = 39

An error is reported if the statement cannot be fitted into the required number of lines. This statement occupies 23 lines.

FPT reformats it into 20 lines (19 continuations), but leaves the original statement in place, commented-out. Click here to see the rewritten code.