The routine returns the full data type of one of the array components of an NDF as an upper-case character string (e.g. ’_REAL’ or ’COMPLEX_BYTE’).

CALL NDF_FTYPE( INDF, COMP, FTYPE, STATUS )

INDF = INTEGER (Given)

COMP = CHARACTER $\ast$ ( $\ast$ ) (Given)

FTYPE = CHARACTER $\ast$ ( $\ast$ ) (Returned)

STATUS = INTEGER (Given and Returned)

• A comma-separated list of component names may also be supplied to this routine. In this case the result returned will be the lowest precision full data type to which the values held in all the specified components can be converted without unnecessary loss of information.

• The numeric type of a scaled array is determined by the numeric type of the scale and zero terms, not by the numeric type of the underlying array elements.

• The value returned for the QUALITY component is always ’_UBYTE’.

• The symbolic constant NDF__SZFTP may be used for declaring the length of a character variable to hold the full data type of an NDF array component. This constant is defined in the include file NDF_PAR.