Informats 8. and 8.2 give the same result whenever the incoming data already contains a decimal point. They produce different results when the incoming data contains no decimal point. As an informat, 8. will not truncate anything. It reads 8 characters and takes whatever it finds as the value. It respects decimal points. As an informat, 8.2 reads the same 8 characters. If they contain a decimal point, the result is the same as using the 8. informat. However, if there is no decimal point, 8.2 assumes that the list 2 digits read should fall after the decimal point. As formats instead of informats, the process is different. That's another question for another day, but it might be related to your assumption that 8. will truncate.
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