Fixed format to free format conversion

[jarvus9]

I'm looking to convert several fortran programs that each have thousands of lines of code from fixed format to free format.

[I would be happy sticking with fixed format, but I am limited to 132 characters per line. Given the newer, larger monitors and long, descriptive variable names, I want to be able to put more characters per line. Going to free format seems the only option]

I've browsed around the web some and haven't found much (my search skills are not the best).

Does anyone have any suggestions for programs to do this (and any other issues I may encounter)? All things being equal, a free program would be better. However, I would be willing to spend ~$100 or so for one that worked well, versus spending many hours cleaning up the results of one that worked poorly.

I poked around www.fortran.com and www.fortranlib.com and didn't find much.

Thanks for any suggestions.

[TimP]

You should have found such programs on those sites. Alan Miller's and Mike Metcalf's fixed to free format conversions have worked well for me on a variety of platforms. There are others which should work at least on linux and cygwin.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Let me point out that with fixed format, you're limited to 72 columns unless you use a vendor-specific switch or directive. Free-form limits you to 132 columns per the standard, though Intel Fortran supports much longer lines.

I do not recommend exceeding the standard's limits here - it will cause you pain down the road, especially as the failure mode can be difficult to predict.