VBScript in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Name

FileSystemObject.OpenTextFile Method

Syntax

                  oFileSysObj
                  .OpenTextFile(FileName[, IOMode[, Create[, Format]]])

oFileSysObj

Use: Required

Data Type: FileSystemObject object

A FileSystemObject object.

FileName

Use: Required

Data Type: String

The path and filename of the file to open.

IOMode

Use: Optional

Data Type: Long

A constant specifying the purpose for opening the file.

Create

Use: Optional

Data Type: Boolean

A Boolean flag denoting whether the file should be created if it can’t be found in the given path.

Format

Use: Optional

Data Type: Long

A constant specifying ASCII or Unicode format.

Return Value

A TextStream object.

Description

Opens (and optionally first creates) a text file for reading or writing.

Rules at a Glance

• File open (IOMode) values are:

Constant	Value	Description
ForAppending	8	Opens the file for appending; that is, the current contents of the file are protected and new data written to the file is placed at the end of the file.
ForReading	1	Opens the file for reading; ForReading files are read-only.
ForWriting	2	Opens the file for writing; all previous file content is overwritten by new data.

• Tristate (Format) values are:

Constant	Value	Description
TristateUseDefault	-2	Opens as System default
TristateTrue	-1	Opens as Unicode
TristateFalse	0	Opens as ASCII

• The path element of FileName can be relative or absolute.

• The default IOMode setting is ForReading (1).

• The default Format setting is ASCII (False).

• If another process has opened the file, the method fails with a “Permission Denied” error.

Programming ...