diff --git a/flang/docs/Extensions.md b/flang/docs/Extensions.md
index f85a3eb39ed19..4b4b516d0fb69 100644
--- a/flang/docs/Extensions.md
+++ b/flang/docs/Extensions.md
@@ -391,6 +391,9 @@ end
   has the SAVE attribute and was initialized.
 * `PRINT namelistname` is accepted and interpreted as
   `WRITE(*,NML=namelistname)`, a near-universal extension.
+* A character length specifier in a component or entity declaration
+  is accepted before an array specification (`ch*3(2)`) as well
+  as afterwards.
 
 ### Extensions supported when enabled by options
 
diff --git a/flang/include/flang/Parser/parse-tree.h b/flang/include/flang/Parser/parse-tree.h
index 22b7f9acd1af5..1f9add6a9a9a4 100644
--- a/flang/include/flang/Parser/parse-tree.h
+++ b/flang/include/flang/Parser/parse-tree.h
@@ -1024,10 +1024,18 @@ struct Initialization {
 
 // R739 component-decl ->
 //        component-name [( component-array-spec )]
-//        [lbracket coarray-spec rbracket] [* char-length]
-//        [component-initialization]
+//          [lbracket coarray-spec rbracket] [* char-length]
+//          [component-initialization] |
+//        component-name *char-length [( component-array-spec )]
+//          [lbracket coarray-spec rbracket] [component-initialization]
 struct ComponentDecl {
   TUPLE_CLASS_BOILERPLATE(ComponentDecl);
+  ComponentDecl(Name &&name, CharLength &&length,
+      std::optional<ComponentArraySpec> &&aSpec,
+      std::optional<CoarraySpec> &&coaSpec,
+      std::optional<Initialization> &&init)
+      : t{std::move(name), std::move(aSpec), std::move(coaSpec),
+            std::move(length), std::move(init)} {}
   std::tuple<Name, std::optional<ComponentArraySpec>,
       std::optional<CoarraySpec>, std::optional<CharLength>,
       std::optional<Initialization>>
@@ -1381,9 +1389,16 @@ struct AttrSpec {
 // R803 entity-decl ->
 //        object-name [( array-spec )] [lbracket coarray-spec rbracket]
 //          [* char-length] [initialization] |
-//        function-name [* char-length]
+//        function-name [* char-length] |
+// (ext.) object-name *char-length [( array-spec )]
+//          [lbracket coarray-spec rbracket] [initialization]
 struct EntityDecl {
   TUPLE_CLASS_BOILERPLATE(EntityDecl);
+  EntityDecl(ObjectName &&name, CharLength &&length,
+      std::optional<ArraySpec> &&aSpec, std::optional<CoarraySpec> &&coaSpec,
+      std::optional<Initialization> &&init)
+      : t{std::move(name), std::move(aSpec), std::move(coaSpec),
+            std::move(length), std::move(init)} {}
   std::tuple<ObjectName, std::optional<ArraySpec>, std::optional<CoarraySpec>,
       std::optional<CharLength>, std::optional<Initialization>>
       t;
diff --git a/flang/lib/Parser/Fortran-parsers.cpp b/flang/lib/Parser/Fortran-parsers.cpp
index 0bdc4c4e033c7..a3d2c36310807 100644
--- a/flang/lib/Parser/Fortran-parsers.cpp
+++ b/flang/lib/Parser/Fortran-parsers.cpp
@@ -460,7 +460,7 @@ TYPE_PARSER(construct<ComponentAttrSpec>(accessSpec) ||
     construct<ComponentAttrSpec>(allocatable) ||
     construct<ComponentAttrSpec>("CODIMENSION" >> coarraySpec) ||
     construct<ComponentAttrSpec>(contiguous) ||
-    construct<ComponentAttrSpec>("DIMENSION" >> Parser<ComponentArraySpec>{}) ||
+    construct<ComponentAttrSpec>("DIMENSION" >> componentArraySpec) ||
     construct<ComponentAttrSpec>(pointer) ||
     extension<LanguageFeature::CUDA>(
         construct<ComponentAttrSpec>(Parser<common::CUDADataAttr>{})) ||
@@ -471,17 +471,23 @@ TYPE_PARSER(construct<ComponentAttrSpec>(accessSpec) ||
 
 // R739 component-decl ->
 //        component-name [( component-array-spec )]
-//        [lbracket coarray-spec rbracket] [* char-length]
-//        [component-initialization]
+//          [lbracket coarray-spec rbracket] [* char-length]
+//          [component-initialization] |
+// (ext.) component-name *char-length [(component-array-spec)]
+//          [lbracket coarray-spec rbracket] [* char-length]
+//          [component-initialization]
 TYPE_CONTEXT_PARSER("component declaration"_en_US,
-    construct<ComponentDecl>(name, maybe(Parser<ComponentArraySpec>{}),
-        maybe(coarraySpec), maybe("*" >> charLength), maybe(initialization)))
+    construct<ComponentDecl>(name, "*" >> charLength, maybe(componentArraySpec),
+        maybe(coarraySpec), maybe(initialization)) ||
+        construct<ComponentDecl>(name, maybe(componentArraySpec),
+            maybe(coarraySpec), maybe("*" >> charLength),
+            maybe(initialization)))
 // The source field of the Name will be replaced with a distinct generated name.
 TYPE_CONTEXT_PARSER("%FILL item"_en_US,
     extension<LanguageFeature::DECStructures>(
         "nonstandard usage: %FILL"_port_en_US,
         construct<FillDecl>(space >> sourced("%FILL" >> construct<Name>()),
-            maybe(Parser<ComponentArraySpec>{}), maybe("*" >> charLength))))
+            maybe(componentArraySpec), maybe("*" >> charLength))))
 TYPE_PARSER(construct<ComponentOrFill>(Parser<ComponentDecl>{}) ||
     construct<ComponentOrFill>(Parser<FillDecl>{}))
 
@@ -658,9 +664,13 @@ TYPE_PARSER(recovery("END ENUM"_tok, constructEndStmtErrorRecovery) >>
 
 // R801 type-declaration-stmt ->
 //        declaration-type-spec [[, attr-spec]... ::] entity-decl-list
-constexpr auto entityDeclWithoutEqInit{construct<EntityDecl>(name,
-    maybe(arraySpec), maybe(coarraySpec), maybe("*" >> charLength),
-    !"="_tok >> maybe(initialization))}; // old-style REAL A/0/ still works
+constexpr auto entityDeclWithoutEqInit{
+    construct<EntityDecl>(name, "*" >> charLength, maybe(arraySpec),
+        maybe(coarraySpec), !"="_tok >> maybe(initialization)) ||
+    construct<EntityDecl>(name, maybe(arraySpec), maybe(coarraySpec),
+        maybe("*" >> charLength),
+        !"="_tok >>
+            maybe(initialization) /* old-style REAL A/0/ still works */)};
 TYPE_PARSER(
     construct<TypeDeclarationStmt>(declarationTypeSpec,
         defaulted("," >> nonemptyList(Parser<AttrSpec>{})) / "::",
@@ -720,9 +730,13 @@ constexpr auto objectName{name};
 // R803 entity-decl ->
 //        object-name [( array-spec )] [lbracket coarray-spec rbracket]
 //          [* char-length] [initialization] |
-//        function-name [* char-length]
-TYPE_PARSER(construct<EntityDecl>(objectName, maybe(arraySpec),
-    maybe(coarraySpec), maybe("*" >> charLength), maybe(initialization)))
+//        function-name [* char-length] |
+// (ext.) object-name *char-length [(array-spec)]
+//          [lbracket coarray-spec rbracket] [initialization]
+TYPE_PARSER(construct<EntityDecl>(objectName, "*" >> charLength,
+                maybe(arraySpec), maybe(coarraySpec), maybe(initialization)) ||
+    construct<EntityDecl>(objectName, maybe(arraySpec), maybe(coarraySpec),
+        maybe("*" >> charLength), maybe(initialization)))
 
 // R806 null-init -> function-reference   ... which must resolve to NULL()
 TYPE_PARSER(lookAhead(name / "( )") >> construct<NullInit>(expr))
diff --git a/flang/lib/Parser/type-parsers.h b/flang/lib/Parser/type-parsers.h
index f800398a22de9..d7e0cd06c3f44 100644
--- a/flang/lib/Parser/type-parsers.h
+++ b/flang/lib/Parser/type-parsers.h
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ constexpr Parser<LanguageBindingSpec> languageBindingSpec; // R808, R1528
 constexpr Parser<EntityDecl> entityDecl; // R803
 constexpr Parser<CoarraySpec> coarraySpec; // R809
 constexpr Parser<ArraySpec> arraySpec; // R815
+constexpr Parser<ComponentArraySpec> componentArraySpec;
 constexpr Parser<ExplicitShapeSpec> explicitShapeSpec; // R816
 constexpr Parser<DeferredShapeSpecList> deferredShapeSpecList; // R820
 constexpr Parser<AssumedImpliedSpec> assumedImpliedSpec; // R821
diff --git a/flang/test/Parser/decl-char-length.f90 b/flang/test/Parser/decl-char-length.f90
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..c6b39560cb62d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/flang/test/Parser/decl-char-length.f90
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+! RUN: %flang_fc1 -fdebug-unparse %s 2>&1 | FileCheck %s
+! Test parsing of alternative order of char-length in an
+! entity-decl or component-decl.
+program p
+  type t
+    !CHECK: CHARACTER c1(2_4)*3/"abc", "def"/
+    character c1*3(2)/'abc','def'/
+  end type
+  integer, parameter :: n=3
+  !CHECK: CHARACTER v1(2_4)*(3_4)/"ghi", "jkl"/
+  character v1*(n)(2)/'ghi','jkl'/
+  !CHECK: CHARACTER :: v2(1_4)*2 = "mn"
+  character::v2*2(1)='mn'
+end
+
+
+