Reading Nonstandard Data with List Input

The Basics of Modifying List Input

You can make list input more versatile by using modified list input. There are two modifiers that can be used with list input.
  • The ampersand (&) modifier is used to read character values that contain embedded blanks.
  • The colon (:) modifier is used to read nonstandard data values and character values that are longer than eight characters, but which contain no embedded blanks.
You can use modified list input to read the file shown below. This file contains the names of the 10 largest U.S. cities ranked in order based on their 2016 estimated population figures.
Notice that some of the values for city names contain embedded blanks and are followed by ...

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