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FileSystem.ReadAllBytes(String) Method

Definition

Returns the contents of a file as a byte array.

public:
 static cli::array <System::Byte> ^ ReadAllBytes(System::String ^ file);
public static byte[] ReadAllBytes (string file);
static member ReadAllBytes : string -> byte[]
Public Shared Function ReadAllBytes (file As String) As Byte()

Parameters

file
String

File to be read.

Returns

Byte[]

Byte array containing the contents of the file.

Exceptions

The path is not valid for one of the following reasons: it is a zero-length string; it contains only white space; it contains invalid characters; or it is a device path (starts with \\.\); it ends with a trailing slash.

file is Nothing.

The file does not exist.

The file is in use by another process, or an I/O error occurs.

The path exceeds the system-defined maximum length.

A file or directory name in the path contains a colon (:) or is in an invalid format.

There is not enough memory to write the string to buffer.

The user lacks necessary permissions to view the path.

Examples

This example reads from the file C:/Documents and Settings/selfportrait.jpg.

My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllBytes(
  "C:/Documents and Settings/selfportrait.jpg")

Remarks

The ReadAllBytes method of the My.Computer.FileSystem object allows you to read from a binary file. The contents of the file are returned as a byte array.

Do not make decisions about the contents of the file based on the name of the file. For example, the file Form1.vb may not be a Visual Basic source file. Verify all inputs before using the data in your application.

The following table lists an example of a task involving the My.Computer.FileSystem.ReadAllBytes method.

To See
Read from a binary file How to: Read From Binary Files in Visual Basic

Applies to