Opens a specified file and returns a TextStream object that can be used to read from, write to, or append to the file.

object.OpenTextFile(filename[, iomode[, create[, format]]])

Arguments

object

Required. Object is always the name of a FileSystemObject.

filename

Required. String expression that identifies the file to open.

iomode

Optional. 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. If omitted, a new file isn't created.

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:

The format argument can have any of the following settings:

Remarks

The following code illustrates the use of the OpenTextFile method to open a file for appending text:

[JScript]
var fs, a, ForAppending;
ForAppending = 8;
fs = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");
a = fs.OpenTextFile("c:\\testfile.txt", ForAppending, false);
...
a.Close();
[VBScript]
Sub OpenTextFileTest
   Const ForReading = 1, ForWriting = 2, ForAppending = 8
   Dim fso, f
   Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
   Set f = fso.OpenTextFile("c:\testfile.txt", ForWriting, True)
   f.Write "Hello world!"
   f.Close
End Sub

See Also

CreateTextFile Method | OpenAsTextStream Method
Applies To: FileSystemObject Object