I don't know if backspace ever works, but while trying to run some calculations the read after a backspace got some run time errors, crashed, and sometimes hung the program -
[dir:~/tests/gfortran] dir% gfortran -o backspace backspace.f [dir:~/tests/gfortran] dir% backspace At line 5 of file backspace.f Fortran runtime error: End of file [dir:~/tests/gfortran] dir% cat backspace.f program main i=1 write(3)i backspace 3 read(3)i stop end -- Summary: gfortran - backspace on binary files errors Product: gcc Version: 4.0.0 Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: normal Priority: P2 Component: fortran AssignedTo: unassigned at gcc dot gnu dot org ReportedBy: dir at lanl dot gov CC: gcc-bugs at gcc dot gnu dot org GCC host triplet: powerpc-apple-darwin7.8.0 http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=20125