subroutine get_column_data(long_string, column)    
    use precision_def
    implicit none
    real(rp), allocatable :: column(:)
    character(*) long_string
    character*600 string
    integer i, ix
    integer error

    if(.not. allocated(column))then
         string = long_string
         i=0
         ix=0
           do while (.true.)
              call string_trim(string(ix+1:), string, ix)
             if(ix == 0)exit
             i=i+1
          end do
!          print '(a,i10)',' number of columns=',i
          allocate(column(1:i))
       endif
       
         i=0
         ix=0
           do while (.true.)
             call string_trim(long_string(ix+1:), long_string, ix)
             if(ix == 0)exit
             i=i+1
             read(long_string(1:ix),*, iostat=error)column(i)
 !            print '(2i10,3x,a,3x,es12.4)',i,ix, long_string(1:ix), column(i)
             if(error /= 0 .and. error /= 59 .and. error /= 5010)print *,'read column data read error =',error
          end do
          return
        end subroutine get_column_data