VB.NET Language in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Name

Write Procedure

Class

Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileSystem

Named Arguments

No

Syntax

Write(filenumber, output)

filenumber (required; Integer)

Any valid file number

output (required; Object (Any))

A comma-delimited list of expressions or a ParamArray to be written to the file

Description

Writes data to a sequential file

Rules at a Glance

• output can contain multiple expressions delimited with either a comma, a semicolon, or a space.

• output can also be an Object array containing values to be written to the file indicated by filenumber.

• The following table describes how the Write procedure handles certain types of data, regardless of the locale, to allow files to be read universally:

Data type	Data written to file
Numeric	Decimal separator is always a period (.)
Boolean	#TRUE# or #FALSE#
Date	#yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss# (hours specified in 24-hour format)
Null	#NULL#
Error	#ERROR errorcode #

• The Write procedure automatically does the following:

  • Delimits data fields with a comma

  • Places quotation marks around string data

Programming Tips and Gotchas

The structured data written to a file using the Write procedure is most suited to being read back from the file using the Input procedure.

VB.NET/VB 6 Differences

• The VB 6 Write statement requires that output be a comma-delimited list of literal values or variables. The VB.NET WriteLine procedure also allows outputlist to be a parameter array.

• Calling the VB 6 Write statement with a single comma in place of outputlist forces a blank line ...