STATUS

 Indicates the status of a file when it is opened.  It takes the
 following form:

 STATUS = sta

 sta  Is a character expression with one of the following 
      values:

 'OLD'       Open an existing file.

 'NEW'       Create a new file; if the file already exists an
             error occurs.

 'SCRATCH'   Create a new file and delete it when the file is 
             closed.

 'REPLACE'   Replace the file with another. If the file to be 
             replaced exists, it is deleted and a new file is 
             created with the same name.  If the file to be replaced 
             does not exist, a new file is created and its status 
             changes to 'OLD'.

 'UNKNOWN'   Open the file as OLD; if it does not exist, then 
             open the file as NEW.

 The default is 'UNKNOWN'.  However, if you implicitly open a file
 using WRITE or you specify compiler option /NOF77 (or OPTIONS
 /NOF77), the default value is 'NEW'.  If you implicitly open a file
 using READ, the default is 'OLD'.

 Scratch files (STATUS='SCRATCH') are created on the user's default
 disk (SYS$DISK) and are not placed in a directory or given a name
 that is externally visible.  To indicate a different device, use
 the FILE specifier.

                                NOTE

         The  STATUS  parameter  is  also  used   in   CLOSE
         statements  to  specify  the status of a file after
         the file is closed.  However, in  CLOSE  statements
         the  STATUS values are the same as those listed for
         the DISPOSE specifier (see OPEN DISPOSE).