From: rymanjc@outlook.com   
      
   On Wed, 3 Apr 2024 12:43:38 -0000 (UTC), db   
    wrote:   
      
   >When I learned Fortran many years ago, the first   
   >character in a line to be printed (or later,   
   >displayed) controlled line or page feed. A blank   
   >produced a new line, a "1" a new page. We used these   
   >to control what happened.   
   >   
   >These days, this doesn't seem to be the case, so   
   >in a sense, Fortran is no longer backward   
   >compatible in this one sense. Or is it?   
   >   
   >As an aside, back in the 1970's, working on an   
   >IBM 360, where we handed in a stack of punch cards   
   >to be run and got the output some time later as a   
   >print-out, I once accidentally put a "c" in as the   
   >first character in a line of output, and this caused   
   >an endless paper feed, until the operator stopped   
   >it. I got a stern note never to run that program   
   >again, on top of a thick stack of blank paper.   
      
   The *nix command asa will remove the first character   
   of every line and output the rest of the line to standard   
   output as follows:   
   1) space - output the rest of the line without change   
   2) 0 - Replace by a newline followed ty the rest of the input line   
   3) 1 - Replace by a newpage followed by the rest of the input line   
   4) + - Replace by a control to return to the first column of the   
             previous line, where the rest of the input line is printed.   
      
   usage is: asa input_file > output_file   
      
   This allows the output file to be printed as originally intended.   
      
   Someplace I have the source to a Fortran  program I wrote   
   for DOS in the 1990s to perform the same function.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)