For GET LIST and GET DATA statements, a comma is added to the end of each logical line transmitted from the terminal, if the programmer omits it. Thus there is no need to enter blanks or commas to delimit items if they are entered on separate logical lines. For the PL/I statement GET LIST(A,B,C); you can enter at the terminal:
:1 +:2 +:3
This rule also applies when entering character-string data. Therefore, a character string must transmit as one logical line. Otherwise, commas are placed at the break points. For example, if you enter:
:'COMMAS SHOULD NOT BREAK +:UP A CLAUSE.'
the resulting string is: “COMMAS SHOULD NOT BREAK, UP A CLAUSE.” The comma is not added if a hyphen was used as a line continuation character.
For a GET EDIT statement, there is no need to enter blanks at the end of the line. The data will be padded to the specified length. Thus, for the PL/I statement:
GET EDIT (NAME) (A(15));
you can enter the 5 characters SMITH. The data will be padded with ten blanks so that the program receives the fifteen characters:
'SMITH '
All uses of SKIP for input are interpreted as SKIP(1) when the file is allocated to the terminal. SKIP(1) is treated as an instruction to ignore all unused data on the currently available logical line.