Opens a specified file and returns a TextStream object that can be used to read from, write to, or append to the file.
Syntax
object.OpenTextFile (filename, [ iomode, [ create, [ format ]]])
The OpenTextFile method has these parts:
| Part | Description |
|---|---|
| object | Required. Always the name of a FileSystemObject. |
| filename | Required. String expression that identifies the file to open. |
| iomode | Optional. Indicates input/output mode. 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. The default is False. |
| 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 only. Use this mode to replace an existing file with new data. You can't read from this file. |
| ForAppending | 8 | Open a file and write to the end of the file. You can't read from this file. |
The format argument can have any of the following settings:
| Constant | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| TristateUseDefault | -2 | Opens the file by using the system default. |
| TristateTrue | -1 | Opens the file as Unicode. |
| TristateFalse | 0 | Opens the file as ASCII. |
Remarks
The following code illustrates the use of the OpenTextFile method to open a file for appending text:
Sub OpenTextFileTest()
Const ForReading = 1, ForWriting = 2, ForAppending = 8
Dim fs, f
Set fs = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set f = fs.OpenTextFile("c:\testfile.txt", ForAppending, TristateFalse)
f.Write "Hello world!"
f.Close
End Sub