21.13.4 Columns

C-c C-r

Displays a “column ruler” momentarily above the current line (fortran-column-ruler).

C-c C-w

Splits the current window horizontally so that it is 72 columns wide. This may help you avoid going over that limit (fortran-window-create).

The command C-c C-r (fortran-column-ruler) shows a column ruler above the current line. The comment ruler consists of two lines of text that show you the locations of columns with special significance in Fortran programs. Square brackets show the limits of the columns for line numbers, and curly brackets show the limits of the columns for the statement body. Column numbers appear above them.

Note that the column numbers count from zero, as always in SXEmacs. As a result, the numbers may not be those you are familiar with; but the actual positions in the line are standard Fortran.

The text used to display the column ruler is the value of the variable fortran-comment-ruler. By changing this variable, you can change the display.

For even more help, use C-c C-w (fortran-window-create), a command which splits the current window horizontally, resulting in a window 72 columns wide. When you edit in this window, you can immediately see when a line gets too wide to be correct Fortran.