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Fortran Arrays Allocatable arrays

Fastest entity framework extensions.

Arrays can have the allocatable attribute:

This declares the variable but does not allocate any space for it.

Once a variable is no longer needed, it can be deallocated :

If for some reason an allocate statement fails, the program will stop. This can be prevented if the status is checked via the stat keyword:

The deallocate statement has stat keyword too:

status is an integer variable whose value is 0 if the allocation or deallocation was successful.

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Arrays and strings #

More often than not, we need to store and operate on long lists of numbers as opposed to just the single scalar variables that we have been using so far; in computer programming such lists are called arrays .

Arrays are multidimensional variables that contain more than one value where each value is accessed using one or more indices.

Arrays in Fortran are one-based by default; this means that the first element along any dimension is at index 1.

Array declaration #

We can declare arrays of any type. There are two common notations for declaring array variables: using the dimension attribute or by appending the array dimensions in parentheses to the variable name.

Example: static array declaration

Array slicing #

A powerful feature of the Fortran language is its built-in support for array operations; we can perform operations on all or part of an array using array slicing notation:

Example: array slicing

Fortran arrays are stored in column-major order; the first index varies fastest.

Allocatable (dynamic) arrays #

So far we have specified the size of our array in our program code—this type of array is known as a static array since its size is fixed when we compile our program.

Quite often, we do not know how big our array needs to be until we run our program, for example, if we are reading data from a file of unknown size.

For this problem, we need allocatable arrays. These are allocated while the program is running once we know how big the array needs to be.

Example: allocatable arrays

Allocatable local arrays are deallocated automatically when they go out of scope.

Character strings #

Example: static character string

Example: allocatable character string

Array of strings #

An array of strings can be expressed in Fortran as an array of character variables. All elements in a character array have equal length. However, strings of varying lengths can be provided as input to the array constructor, as shown in the example below. They will be truncated or right-padded with spaces if they are longer or shorter, respectively, than the declared length of the character array. Finally, we use the intrinsic function trim to remove any excess spaces when printing the values to the standard output.

Example: string array

Fortran allocatable array

Previously ,I always thinking that a(:) is a suger as a(1:size(a)) but this expmple confuesd me

It is a part of standand,and even for 2d array,

It is hard for boundary check if using allocatable array.

I think this different shape array assignment should be reject.

:slight_smile:

A conforming program shall not have the mismatch in shape in intrinsic assignment, the likes of which are shown in the original post.

The onus to conform is placed on the program writer.

:cry:

a(:) is definitely equivalent a(1:size(a)) (well actually to a(lbound(a):ubound(a)) , but let’s consider here that the lower bound is 1), and will behave exactly the same if the code is standard-conforming .

Assigning an array (or an array sections) to an array section with a size mismatch is not standard conforming and the behavior is undefined. Ideally we would like the compiler to catch non-confirming code at compile time, but it’s not always possible and it depends on how the array sections are written.

If a is a static array

In the 3rd case the upper bound of the array section is an expression, which is evaluated only at run-time. So at compile time the mismatch cannot be detected. One may argue that on this example it would be fairly easy for the compiler to evaluate the expression at compile time, and that would be true. However where’s the limit? For more complex expressions at some point the compiler would have to actually run the code to be able to evaluate them. So in practice expressions are not evaluated at compile time.

If a is allocatable this is even worse. For instance the size of a(:) is not know at compile time.

With an explicit-shape array, it’s more an aspect of the quality of implementation whether a processor detects and reports the shape mismatch at compile-time. I suspect most compilers do so.

It is a dangerous UB. Previously ,I think It can checked at runtime , and a(1:size(a))=[1,2,3] should calculate size(a) firstly. But I am not familiar with complier,may it is hard to check.

By default, compilers do not check many things at runtime, as they are not required to and as it could hurt the performances. However they have compilation options that can enable many runtime checks (still, not all errors are detected). This is mostly useful for debugging.

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Fortran function returning allocatable array

Let me consider a function returning an allocatable array. Should the array variable holding the result (outside the function) be allocated before an assignment?

Consider, e.g., the following program

According to this , and this , the array res allocated for the result of get_matrix is deallocated as soon as it goes out of scope.

Would an assignment to a non-allocated variable w in the main program prolong the scope of the result of get_matrix ? In other words, if I omit allocate(w(2,2)) in the main program, do I get an undefined behavior?

Omitting allocate(w(2,2)) and compiling with gfortran 9.2.0 and options -Wall -std=f2008 gives following warnings

However, running the program with valgrind , as well as compiling with -fbounds-check , -fsanitize=address , or -fsanitize=leak does not give any error. Furthermore, the instruction deallocate(w) at the end does not crash the program, suggesting that w contains the memory allocated by get_matrix and, hence, one does not need to allocate w in the main program.

At the same time, including allocate(w(2,2)) in the code suppresses the compiler warning. Despite having the impression that the same memory is allocated twice, valgrind does not report a memory leak and, in fact, reports exactly the same memory usage.

What is the correct way to store an allocatable array as result of a function? Is it necessary to allocate w before storing in it the result of get_matrix ?

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Problem with overloaded assignment when LHS is allocatable array

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COMMENTS

  1. Allocatable Arrays

    Allocatable Arrays#. The allocatable attribute provides a safe way for memory handling. In comparison to variables with pointer attribute the memory is managed automatically and will be deallocated automatically once the variable goes out-of-scope. Using allocatable variables removes the possibility to create memory leaks in an application.. They can be used in subroutines to create scratch or ...

  2. Automatic array allocation upon assignment in Fortran

    array(:) = (/1,2,3/) In this case, array (if allocatable) must be allocated, of rank 1 and of size 3 for the assignment statement to be valid. This is as would be under a Fortran 90 interpretation of the assignment with the whole array array=(/1,2,3/). The reason for this is that with the array section of this footnote, the left-hand side is ...

  3. Fortran Tutorial => Allocatable arrays

    Arrays can have the allocatable attribute:! One dimensional allocatable array integer, dimension(:), allocatable :: foo ! Two dimensional allocatable array real, dimension(:,:), allocatable :: bar This declares the variable but does not allocate any space for it.! We can specify the bounds as usual allocate(foo(3:5)) !

  4. Assignment of an allocatable to an allocatable

    If I uncomment the ALLOCATE (finishing (1)) statement it seems to work. But distinguishing between an array that is not allocated versus an array that is allocated to the wrong size seems a bit of a picky requirement for the feature. The code above also seems to work if I make starting explicit shape (ie. INTEGER :: STARTING (10) and delete the ...

  5. Arrays

    Arrays are a central object in Fortran. The creation of dynamic sized arrays is discussed in the allocatable arrays section. To pass arrays to procedures four ways are available. The preferred way to pass arrays to procedures is as assumed-shape arrays. Higher-dimensional arrays can be passed in a similar way.

  6. ALLOCATABLE

    Statement and Attribute: Specifies that an object is allocatable. The shape of an allocatable array is determined when an ALLOCATE statement is executed, dynamically allocating space for the array. A character object may have a deferred length that is determined when the object is allocated with an ALLOCATE statement. A allocatable scalar object of any type may be allocated with an ALLOCATE ...

  7. Allocatable arrays

    Allocatable arrays. A deferred-shape array that has the ALLOCATABLE attribute is referred to as an allocatable array. Determination of the bounds and shape of the array occurs when you allocate storage using an ALLOCATE statement. Example of an allocatable array. INTEGER, ALLOCATABLE, DIMENSION (:,:,:) :: A ALLOCATE (A (10,-4:5,20)) !

  8. Arrays and strings

    Fortran : High-performance parallel programming language. Allocatable (dynamic) arrays#. So far we have specified the size of our array in our program code—this type of array is known as a static array since its size is fixed when we compile our program.. Quite often, we do not know how big our array needs to be until we run our program, for example, if we are reading data from a file of ...

  9. ALLOCATABLE (Fortran 2003)

    ALLOCATABLE (Fortran 2003) Purpose. The ALLOCATABLE attribute allows you to declare an allocatable object. You can dynamically allocate the storage space of these objects by executing an ALLOCATE statement or by a derived-type assignment statement. If the object is an array ...

  10. Solved: Allocatable arrays of derived types

    I want to define a derived type PM consisting of an integer array ng(n1,n2) and a double vector zg(n3). I wrote:TYPE PM. INTEGER,ALLOCATABLE::ng(:,:) DOUBLE PRECISION,ALLOCATABLE::zg(:) END TYPE PM. n1, n2 and n3 are defined run time. Then I finally want to allocate an array PMA with n4 of PM derived types. n4 is defined at run time.

  11. Automatic vs. allocatable arrays for function results

    A function returning an automatic array is more flexible, because in the caller, an array need not be allocatable to be set to the function result, although with allocation upon assignment, it can be. I use functions with an allocatable result when the size of the result does not trivially depend on the arguments.

  12. Assignment to an allocatable array in F2003

    The code you posted does not compile - the syntax for the DO loop is incorrect. It's also incomplete. I corrected this and added code to view the bounds and can see that array B has bounds 3:4. xlf is correct here - the bounds of the expression a(3:4) are 1:2. You can see this with the following test: [fortran]real a(4) real, allocatable :: b ...

  13. Fortran allocatable array

    Assigning an array (or an array sections) to an array section with a size mismatch is not standard conforming and the behavior is undefined. Ideally we would like the compiler to catch non-confirming code at compile time, but it's not always possible and it depends on how the array sections are written. If a is a static array

  14. Alignment of Allocatable Arrays & Pointers in Intel Fortran Compiler

    The feature enhancements in Intel Fortran compiler 17.0 or later include support of specifying ASSUME_ALIGNED directive at point of use for an allocatable array or pointer. In the new syntax user must specify which array element is aligned. For above example, user can specify the alignment of A, B and C prior to the loop as:

  15. stack overflow even with allocatable array

    This is what the documentation (link given in #2) says: Option standard-realloc-lhs (the default), tells the compiler that when the left-hand side of an assignment is an allocatable object, it should be reallocated to the shape of the right-hand side of the assignment before the assignment occurs. This is the current Fortran Standard definition. This feature may cause extra overhead at run time.

  16. fortran

    2. It is informally called (..... wait for it .....) (re-)allocation on assignment. The specific language from the Fortran 2003 standard using variable=expr. "If variable is an allocated allocatable variable, it is deallocated if expr is an array of different shape or any of the corresponding length type parameter values of variable and expr ...

  17. Fortran function returning allocatable array

    That is, there is no special consideration required for assigning from a function with allocatable result. (The function result must, of course, be allocated, but that's a different point.) In the case of the question, the usual intrinsic assignment rules apply. In particular, we don't need to allocate w before the assignment.

  18. Assignment to Allocatable Array

    Assignment to Allocatable Array. 07-21-2009 03:00 AM. Alt = pack (Fxd, Fxd .NE. 0) According to Metcalf et al. Fortran 95/2003 PP. 298, the direct assignment to an allocatable array (Alt) is possible due to an extension in Fortran 95 standards (Ch. 12). I am using Intel Fortran Compiler Ver. 10.1.021 on MSXP SP3.

  19. Problem with overloaded assignment when LHS is allocatable array

    In this case, the standard essentially places the onus on the program (and by extension its author) to conform, the processor (compiler being part of it) is not required to issue diagnostics. And the issue is this: with the defined assignment as specified, the standard semantics requires the 'ialloc` to be allocated to the right shape prior to ...