[ferret_users] string variables and format statements

["E. D. Cokelet" <Edward.D.Cokelet@xxxxxxxx> (Ned)]

I want to read a literal or string variable into Ferret using the fortran format statement feature, but Ferret does not seem to get it right.  I tried

set data /var="v1,v2"/format="(1x, f6.2,1x,a6,/////)" my_file.txt

but variable v2 is not recognized as a string variable.  Adding    /type="num,text"    to the statement does not help because that only seems to work with /EZ.  I need the /format formulation because I want those /////'s so I can skip lines in the middle of a file.  /skip=5 in Ferret would only let me skip lines at the beginning of the file.

Now that Ferret is more string-variable-capable, why can't we have a literal variable type in the format statement?
Any suggestions?  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edward D. (Ned) Cokelet, Ph.D.        Edward.D.Cokelet@noaa.gov
Oceanographer
NOAA/PMEL                                          off:  (206) 526-6820
7600 Sand Point Way NE	                   fax: (206) 526-6485
Seattle, WA 98115-6439