An input system is presented which has been tailored for engineering data. The system makes use of a problem‐oriented language organized as a tree structure. Input data is parsed line by line and placed in appropriate queues. The application program then extracts this queued data using logical functions. A sample finite element problem is included to demonstrate the use of the input system. The input system requires only 17 Kb of memory and operates very efficiently. The system is ideal for microcomputer applications and provides input methods that were once only available in extremely large applications program