This routine obtains and validates an HDS primitive data type, including the _CHAR$\ast$n and LITERAL forms. Unamibguous abbreviations may be supplied. The user is reprompted up to four times if the value is not one of the allowed types.

CALL KPG1_GETYP( PARAM, HDSTYP, STATUS )

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

HDSTYP = CHARACTER $\ast$ ( DAT__SZTYP ) (Given)

STATUS = INTEGER (Given and Returned)

• Error reports are made and flushed inside the loop if the _CHAR$\ast$n has an invalid " n" value.

• Bad status is returned if no valid type has been obtained.

• _INT64 and _INTEGER require 5 characters for disambiguation. This is a change from when only _INTEGER was available.