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From: ags@s.cc.purdue.edu (Dave Seaman)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal
Subject: Re: Sun Pascal bug?
Message-ID: <2342@s.cc.purdue.edu>
Date: 26 Feb 88 14:18:07 GMT
References: <14411@oddjob.UChicago.EDU>
Reply-To: ags@s.cc.purdue.edu.UUCP (Dave Seaman)
Organization: Purdue University
Lines: 42

In article <14411@oddjob.UChicago.EDU> vinson@oddjob.uchicago.edu (Michael Vinson) writes:
>I am using Sun UNIX Pascal, and I have a problem that is annoying in
>the extreme. The problem is as simple as it is absurd: when I try to
>compile a program that read a string (i.e. a packed array of char) from
>a text (yes text) file, the compiler tells me "Can't read strings from 
>a text file"!!! This is crazy. It means, for example the the following
>lines won't work:

	[code deleted]

That is correct.  Reading strings from a text file is not allowed in
standard Pascal.  Many implementations provide a way to do it, but it is
not part of the standard. 

>This is a pain in the *ss! Does anyone have any ideas/solutions/remedies?

Sure.  Write a short procedure to do what you want, and call it as needed,
or use a language/implementation that supports string input directly.

>(I mean, I can always read in a string one char at a time, but I shouldn't
>have to. If you can't read strings from a text file, which includes standard
>input, what can you read them from?)

You can read strings from a file of strings.

	type

	  string = packed array [1..80] of char;

	var

	  f : file of string;
	  str : string;

	begin
	  reset(f);
	  read(f,str);
	   . . .

-- 
Dave Seaman	  					
ags@j.cc.purdue.edu