The slash descriptor (/) starts a new record on output or skips to a new record on input, ignoring anything left on the current record. On a text file a record normally corresponds to a line of text. Note that a formatted transfer always process at least one record: if the format contains N slashes then a total of (N+1) records are processed. With N consecutive slashes in an output format there will be (N-1) blank lines; on input then (N-1) lines will be ignored. Note that if a formatted sequential file is sent to a printer the first character of every record may be used for carriage-control (see section 10.11). It is good practice to put 1X at the beginning of every format specification and after every slash to ensure single line spacing. Here, for example, there is a blank line after the column headings.
WRITE(UNIT=LP, FMT=95) (NYEAR(I), POP(I), I=1,NYEARS)
95 FORMAT(1X,'Year Population', //, 100(1X, I4, F12.0, /))