  C, Fortran and String Descriptors? 
 The Question is:
 
I am writing a C program that needs to accept Fortran strings. I know how to
 use descriptors to pass strings from C to Fortran, but I'm having trouble
 finding documentation to help me do it the other way. Thanks for your help!
 
 The Answer is :
 
  OpenVMS descriptors are the same, regardless of the languages that
  are involved.
 
  There are a number of different descriptors available, of course,
  and the selection depends on the language and the data involved.
 
  The OpenVMS Calling Standard, the Guide to Modular Programming,
  and the Programming Concepts manuals are the related manuals.
 
  If you need details of a particular implementation of a particular
  descriptor-based argument-passing mechanism, code two programs in
  the same language that use the desired calling interface, and then
  use the debugger and the OpenVMS programming documentation to examine
  and to decode the descriptors and the details; use the debugger and
  the coded examples to evalate the details of the calling standard
  as applied to the particular language and debugger.
 
  In general, a string descriptor is used for most strings.  Examples
  of string descriptors abound, both here in Ask The Wizard and in
  the Natural Language Search Assistant (formerly AskQ) website.  See
  OpenVMS FAQ for additional C programming information and a brief
  introduction to the descriptor, and for pointers to AskQ.  See topic
  (1661) for some related programming information, and particularly
  for common coding errors.
 
 Answer written or last revised on  9-SEP-2004 
