Opens an existing file for reading and writing.

To prevent memory leaks, ensure each successful call to fileOpen has a matching call to fileClose.

OOP Syntax Help! I don't understand this!

• Note: Static method File.open() can also be used. Using File(...) to open a file will attempt to create the file, if it doesn't exist.

• Constructor: File(...)

Syntax

file|false fileOpen ( string filePath, [ bool readOnly = false ] )

Required Arguments

• filePath: The Filepath of the file in the following format: :resourceName/path. resourceName is the name of the resource the file is in, and 'path' is the path from the root directory of the resource to the file. For example, if there is a file named coolObjects.txt in the resource objectSearch, it can be opened from another resource this way: fileOpen(":objectSearch/coolObjects.txt"). If the file is in the current resource, only the file path is necessary, e.g. fileOpen("coolObjects.txt").

Optional Arguments

NOTE: When using optional arguments, you might need to supply all arguments before the one you wish to use.

• readOnly (default: false): By default, the file is opened with reading and writing access. You can specify true for this parameter if you only need reading access.

Returns

• file|false: result

If successful, returns a file handle for the file. Otherwise returns false (f.e. if the file doesn't exist).

Code Examples

Example 1 Example 2 (OOP) Example 3 Example 4 (OOP)

shared

This example opens the file test.txt that is in the root of the current resource, and outputs its contents to the console.

local hFile = fileOpen("test.txt", true)       -- attempt to open the file (read only)
if hFile then                                  -- check if it was successfully opened
    local buffer
    while not fileIsEOF(hFile) do              -- as long as we're not at the end of the file...
        buffer = fileRead(hFile, 500)          -- ... read the next 500 bytes...
        outputConsole(buffer)                  -- ... and output them to the console
    end
    fileClose(hFile)                           -- close the file once we're done with it
else
    outputConsole("Unable to open test.txt")
end

shared

OOP Required

This example opens the file test.txt that is in the root of the current resource, and outputs its contents to the console.

local hFile = File("test.txt", true)       -- attempt to open the file (read only)
if (hFile) then                                  -- check if it was successfully opened
    local buffer
    while (not hFile.eof) do              -- as long as we're not at the end of the file...
        buffer = hFile:read(500)          -- ... read the next 500 bytes...
        outputConsole(buffer)                  -- ... and output them to the console
    end
    hFile:close()                          -- close the file once we're done with it
else
    outputConsole("Unable to open test.txt")
end

shared

This example show how to append data to an existing file

local hFile = fileOpen("test.txt")             -- attempt to open the file (read and write mode)
if hFile then                                  -- check if it was successfully opened
    fileSetPos( hFile, fileGetSize( hFile ) )  -- move position to the end of the file
    fileWrite(hFile, "hello" )                 -- append data
    fileFlush(hFile)                           -- Flush the appended data into the file.
    fileClose(hFile)                           -- close the file once we're done with it
else
    outputConsole("Unable to open test.txt")
end

shared

OOP Required

This example show how to append data to an existing file

local hFile = File("test.txt")             -- attempt to open the file (read and write mode)
if (hFile) then                                  -- check if it was successfully opened
    hFile.pos = hFile.size  -- move position to the end of the file
    hFile:write("hello" )                 -- append data
    hFile:flush()                           -- Flush the appended data into the file.
    hFile:close()                           -- close the file once we're done with it
else
    outputConsole("Unable to open test.txt")
end

See Also

File Functions

• fileCopy
• fileClose
• fileCreate
• fileDelete
• fileExists
• fileFlush
• fileGetContents
• fileGetHash
• fileGetPath
• fileGetPos
• fileGetSize
• fileIsEOF
• fileOpen
• fileRead
• fileRename
• fileSetPos
• fileWrite

File Elements

• file

Reference

• Scripting Functions