Reading Past End of Record (REPEATING DATA command)

If one or more fields extend past the end of the actual record, or if CONTINUED is specified and the ending column specified on either STARTS or CONTINUED is beyond the end of the actual record, the program takes the following action:

• For string data with format A, the data record is considered to be extended logically with blanks. If the entire field lies past the end of the record, the resulting value will be all blanks.
• For numeric data, a warning is issued and the resulting value is system-missing.