FORTRAN read statement
The read statement is an instruction for FORTRAN how to interpret an input file.
The read statement can contain the following instructions:
A reads characters,
E reads real numbers,
I reads integers and
X skips positions.
The format string must be enclosed in parenthesis and apostrophes '(format spec.)'.
Example: FORM= '(E15.3, 5X, E15.3)'
The format specification given above enables FORTRAN to read
the first 15 characters from the file,
the next 5 characters will be skipped,
the next 15 characters will also be read.