Statement: The initial statement of a function subprogram. A function subprogram is invoked in an expression and returns a single value (a function result) that is used to evaluate the expression.
Syntax
Keyword | Meaning |
---|---|
RECURSIVE | Permits direct recursion to occur. If a function is directly recursive and array valued, RESULT must also be specified. |
PURE | Asserts that the procedure has no side effects. |
ELEMENTAL | Restricted form of pure procedure that acts on one array element at a time. |
The function name can be followed by the length of the data type. The length is specified by an asterisk (*) followed by any unsigned, nonzero integer that is a valid length for the function's type. For example, REAL FUNCTION LGFUNC*8 (Y, Z) specifies the function result as REAL(8) (or REAL*8).
This optional length specification is not permitted if the length has already been specified following the keyword CHARACTER.
Rules and Behavior
The type and kind parameters (if any) of the function's result can be defined in the FUNCTION statement or in a type declaration statement within the function subprogram, but not both. If no type is specified, the type is determined by implicit typing rules in effect for the function subprogram.
Execution begins with the first executable construct or statement following the FUNCTION statement. Control returns to the calling program unit once the END statement (or a RETURN statement) is executed.
If you specify CHARACTER*(*), the function assumes the length declared for it in the program unit that invokes it. This type of character function can have different lengths when it is invoked by different program units; it is an obsolescent feature in Fortran 95.
If the length is specified as an integer constant, the value must agree with the length of the function specified in the program unit that invokes the function. If no length is specified, a length of 1 is assumed.
If the function is array-valued or a pointer, the declarations within the function must state these attributes for the function result name. The specification of the function result attributes, dummy argument attributes, and the information in the procedure heading collectively define the interface of the function.
The value of the result variable is returned by the function when it completes execution. Certain rules apply depending on whether the result is a pointer, as follows:
The shape of the value returned by the function is determined by the shape of the result variable when the function completes execution.
A function subprogram cannot contain a SUBROUTINE statement, a BLOCK DATA statement, a PROGRAM statement, or another FUNCTION statement. ENTRY statements can be included to provide multiple entry points to the subprogram.
You can use a CALL statement to invoke a function as long as the function is not one of the following types:
Compatibility
CONSOLE STANDARD GRAPHICS QUICKWIN GRAPHICS WINDOWS DLL LIB
See Also: ENTRY, SUBROUTINE, PURE, ELEMENTAL, RESULT keyword, Function References, Program Units and Procedures, General Rules for Function and Subroutine Subprograms
Examples
The following example uses the Newton-Raphson iteration method
(F(X) = cosh(X) + cos(X) - A = 0)
to get the root of the
function:
FUNCTION ROOT(A)
X = 1.0
DO
EX = EXP(X)
EMINX = 1./EX
ROOT = X - ((EX+EMINX)*.5+COS(X)-A)/((EX-EMINX)*.5-SIN(X))
IF (ABS((X-ROOT)/ROOT) .LT. 1E-6) RETURN
X = ROOT
END DO
END
In the preceding example, the following formula is calculated
repeatedly until the difference between Xi and
Xi+1 is less than 1.0E-6:
cosh(Xi) + cos(Xi) - A | ||||
Xi+1 = Xi | - | |||
sinh(Xi) - sin(Xi) |
CHARACTER*(*) FUNCTION REDO(CARG)
CHARACTER*1 CARG
DO I=1,LEN(REDO)
REDO(I:I) = CARG
END DO
RETURN
END FUNCTION
This function returns the value of its argument, repeated to fill the length of the function.
Within any given program unit, all references to an assumed-length character function must have the same length. In the following example, the REDO function has a length of 1000:
CHARACTER*1000 REDO, MANYAS, MANYZS
MANYAS = REDO('A')
MANYZS = REDO('Z')
Another program unit within the executable program can specify a different length. For example, the following REDO function has a length of 2:
CHARACTER HOLD*6, REDO*2
HOLD = REDO('A')//REDO('B')//REDO('C')
The following example shows a dynamic array-valued function:
FUNCTION SUB (N)
REAL, DIMENSION(N) :: SUB
...
END FUNCTION
The following shows another example:
INTEGER Divby2
10 PRINT *, 'Enter a number'
READ *, i
Print *, Divby2(i)
GOTO 10
END
C
C This is the function definition
C
INTEGER FUNCTION Divby2 (num)
Divby2=num / 2
END FUNCTION