Get

Reads data from an open disk file into a variable.

Syntax

file.Get Data , [Recnumber]

The parts of the Get statement syntax are described in the following table.

Remarks

Data read with Get is usually written to a file with Put.

The first record or byte in a file is at position 1, the second record or byte is at position 2, and so on. If you omit Recnumber, the next record or byte following the last Get or Put statement (or pointed to by the last Seek function) is read.

For files opened in Random mode, the following rules apply:

• If the length of the data being read is less than the length specified in the Len clause of the Open statement, Get reads subsequent records on record-length boundaries. The space between the end of one record and the beginning of the next record is padded with the existing contents of the file buffer. Because the amount of padding data cannot be determined with any certainty, it is generally a good idea to have the record length match the length of the data being read.
• If the variable being read into is a Variant of numeric type, Get reads 2 bytes identifying the VarType of the Variant and then the data that goes into the variable. For example, when reading a Variant of VarType 3, Get reads 6 bytes: 2 bytes identifying the Variant as VarType 3 (Long) and 4 bytes containing the Long data. The record length specified by the Len clause in the Open statement must be at least 2 bytes greater than the actual number of bytes required to store the variable.
• You can use the Get statement to read a Variant array from disk, but you cannot use Get to read a scalar Variant containing an array. You also cannot use Get to read objects from disk.
• If the variable being read into is a Variant of VarType 8 (String), Get reads 2 bytes identifying the VarType, 2 bytes indicating the length of the string, and then reads the string data. The record length specified by the Len clause in the Open statement must be at least 4 bytes greater than the actual length of the string.
• If the variable being read into is a dynamic array, Get reads a descriptor whose length equals 2 plus 8 times the number of dimensions, that is, 2 + 8 * NumberOfDimensions. The record length specified by the Len clause in the Open statement must be greater than or equal to the sum of all the bytes required to read the array data and the array descriptor.
• For files opened in Binary mode, all of the Random rules apply, except:
  • The Len clause in the Open statement has no effect. Get reads all variables from disk contiguously; that is, with no padding between records.