VBScript in a Nutshell

Name

FileSystemObject.OpenTextFile Method

Syntax

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

oFileSysObj

Use: Required

Data Subtype: FileSystemObject object

Any object variable returning a FileSystemObject object.

FileName

Use: Required

Data Subtype: String

The path and filename of the file to open.

IOMode

Use: Optional

Data Subtype: Long

A constant specifying the purpose for opening the file.

Create

Use: Optional

Data Subtype: 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 Subtype: 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 ...