Re: variable lenght strings

[Jeffrey Carter <spam@spam.com>]

Martin Krischik wrote:

> When the last line is missing a CR/LF - happens often in user edited
> files - and is a multiple of the internal buffer in lenght then an
> exception is raised.

Get_Line is specified in A.10.7:

Reads successive characters from the specified input file and assigns
them to successive characters of the specified string. Reading stops if
the end of the string is met. Reading also stops if the end of the line
is met before meeting the end of the string; in this case Skip_Line is
(in effect) called with a spacing of 1.

The end of the line seems to be specified in A.10.5, for End_Of_Line:

Operates on a file of mode In_File. Returns True if a line terminator or
a file terminator is next; otherwise returns False.

Thus a missing line terminator (CR/LF for DOS/Windows) at the end of a
file should be interpreted as end of line anyway, it seems, and any
compiler which doesn't seems to have an error.

Possibly an exception is raised because it is unable to skip the implied 
end of line. That may be a legal interpretation, but it would apply in 
all cases when the file lacks a final line terminator, not just when 
attempting to read a null string. Perhaps we should contact the ARG for 
clarification of this.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"Oh Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou
mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy."
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
24