Free source form

A free source form line can specify up to 132 characters on each line. In XL Fortran, there is no limit to the number of continuation lines for a statement, but the statement cannot be longer than 34 000 characters. Fortran 2003 limits the number of continuation lines to 255, while Fortran 95 limits the number of continuation lines to 39.

Items can begin in any column of a line, subject to the following requirements for lines and items on those lines:

A comment line is a line of white space or begins with an exclamation mark that is not in a character context.
An initial line can contain any of the following items, in the following sequence:
- A statement label.
- Statement text. Note that statement text is required in an initial line.
- Additional statements.
- The ampersand continuation character.
- An inline comment.
If you want to continue an initial line or continuation line in a non-character context, the continuation line must start on the first noncomment line that follows the intial line or continuation line. To define a line as a continuation line, you must place an ampersand after the statements on the previous non-comment line.
White space before and after the ampersand is optional, with the following restrictions:
- If you also place an ampersand in the first nonblank character position of the continuation line, the statement continues at the next character position following the ampersand.
- If a lexical token is continued, the ampersand must immediately follow the initial part of the token, and the remainder of the token must immediately start after the ampersand on the continuation line.
A character context can be continued if the following conditions are true:
- The last character of the continued line is an ampersand and is not followed by an inline comment. If the rightmost character of the statement text to be continued is an ampersand, you must enter a second ampersand as a continuation character.
- The first nonblank character of the next noncomment line is an ampersand.

Fortran 2008 begins A semicolon separates statements on a single source line, except when the semicolon appears in a character context or in a comment. Fortran 2008 ends Two or more separators that are on the same line and are themselves separated by only white space or other semicolons are considered to be a single separator. A separator that is the last character on a line or before an inline comment is ignored. Additional statements cannot follow a program unit END statement on the same line.