OpenTextFile Method

 

OpenTextFile Method

See Also

CreateTextFile Method | OpenAsTextStream Method
Applies To: FileSystemObject Object

Language

• JScript
• VBScript
• Show All

Opens a specified file and returns a TextStream object that can be used to read from, write to, or append to the file.

object.OpenTextFile(filename[, iomode[, create[, format]]])

Arguments

object

Required. Object is always the name of a FileSystemObject.

filename

Required. String expression that identifies the file to open.

iomode

Optional. Can be one of three constants: ForReading, ForWriting, or ForAppending.

create

Optional. Boolean value that indicates whether a new file can be created if the specified filename doesn't exist. The value is True if a new file is created, False if it isn't created. If omitted, a new file isn't created.

format

Optional. One of three Tristate values used to indicate the format of the opened file. If omitted, the file is opened as ASCII.

Settings

The iomode argument can have any of the following settings:

Constant	Value	Description
ForReading	1	Open a file for reading only. You can't write to this file.
ForWriting	2	Open a file for writing.
ForAppending	8	Open a file and write to the end of the file.

The format argument can have any of the following settings:

Value	Description
TristateTrue	Open the file as Unicode.
TristateFalse	Open the file as ASCII.
TristateUseDefault	Open the file using the system default.

Remarks

The following code illustrates the use of the OpenTextFile method to open a file for appending text:

[JScript]
var fs, a, ForAppending;
ForAppending = 8;
fs = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");
a = fs.OpenTextFile("c://testfile.txt", ForAppending, false);
...
a.Close();

[VBScript]
Sub OpenTextFileTest
   Const ForReading = 1, ForWriting = 2, ForAppending = 8
   Dim fso, f
   Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
   Set f = fso.OpenTextFile("c:/testfile.txt", ForWriting, True)
   f.Write "Hello world!"
   f.Close
End Sub