Formatting the data for reading

Firstly we consider the order of data input. We envisage reading in a table of data, where each row corresponds to a different case, and each column to a different element or data-element. For smaller data sets, therefore, the most convenient data layout is as a table of numbers, with the numbers separated by one or more spaces.

However, the real numbers input need not necessarily be in tabular format They must be supplied in the order indicated, but you are free to split the input over several lines, as many numbers per line as you wish (possibly interspersed with blank lines) subject to the usual limitation of no more than 253 characters per physical line. A number must not be split over two or more lines. Any input on the same physical line as the last number required will be ignored.

Every is the name either of a single quantity for which a column of data is to be read, or the name of a base. If is the name of a base, the effect is as though is replaced in the command line by all its constituents, in the order given by the ordering convention (see the glossary). Hence, the following two statements are equivalent from the point of view of inputting data:

1. BD>base : B =N , N

   BD>data : @datahere (2)

2. BD>data : <N , N > 15 @datahere (2)

Every should be (once rounded) a positive integer indicating a number of columns of data that should be skipped before the next column is input. There is no need to skip unwanted columns of data at the end a row.