Syntax

For an output file:
file (with open-modifier (& open-modifier)*)*

For a source file:
(binary-mode | text-mode)? (buffered | unbuffered)? file string-expression

The operator file retrieves the contents of a named file.

In certain limited cases, the file can be read in smaller chunks, allowing very large files to be processed without requiring huge amounts of computer memory. These cases occur whenever the file expression is used in the string expression of any of the following actions alone, or attached by join to other string expressions:

• put (the file expression must be the second argument)
• output
• set (when performed on a stream)
• set file
• set referent

file can also be used as the entire string expression argument of one of the following actions:

• submit
• do scan
• repeat scan
• do sgml-parse
• do xml-parse

Related Syntax binary-mode || (concatenation) output put set do sgml-parse submit text-mode do scan repeat scan set file set referent do xml-parse buffered, unbuffered

Related Concepts Buffering I/O File tests Files: binary-mode and text-mode Streams: attachments

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