File.OpenRead(String) Method

Reference

Definition

Namespace:: System.IO

Assemblies:: mscorlib.dll, System.IO.FileSystem.dll

Assemblies:: netstandard.dll, System.Runtime.dll

Assemblies:: netstandard.dll, System.IO.FileSystem.dll

Assemblies:: netstandard.dll, System.IO.FileSystem.dll, System.Runtime.dll

Assembly:: System.IO.FileSystem.dll

Assembly:: mscorlib.dll

Assembly:: netstandard.dll

Source:: File.cs

Source:: File.cs

Source:: File.cs

Important

Some information relates to prerelease product that may be substantially modified before it’s released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

Opens an existing file for reading.

public:
 static System::IO::FileStream ^ OpenRead(System::String ^ path);

public static System.IO.FileStream OpenRead(string path);

static member OpenRead : string -> System.IO.FileStream

Public Shared Function OpenRead (path As String) As FileStream

Parameters

path: String

The file to be opened for reading.

Returns

FileStream

A read-only FileStream on the specified path.

Exceptions

ArgumentException

.NET Framework and .NET Core versions older than 2.1: path is a zero-length string, contains only white space, or contains one or more invalid characters. You can query for invalid characters by using the GetInvalidPathChars() method.

ArgumentNullException

path is null.

PathTooLongException

The specified path, file name, or both exceed the system-defined maximum length.

DirectoryNotFoundException

The specified path is invalid, (for example, it is on an unmapped drive).

UnauthorizedAccessException

path specified a directory.

-or-

The caller does not have the required permission.

FileNotFoundException

The file specified in path was not found.

NotSupportedException

path is in an invalid format.

IOException

An I/O error occurred while opening the file.

Examples

The following example opens a file for reading.

using namespace System;
using namespace System::IO;
using namespace System::Text;

int main()
{
   String^ path = "c:\\temp\\MyTest.txt";
   
   if (  !File::Exists( path ) )
   {
      // Create the file.
      FileStream^ fs = File::Create( path );
      try
      {
         array<Byte>^info = (gcnew UTF8Encoding( true ))->GetBytes( "This is some text in the file." );
         
         // Add some information to the file.
         fs->Write( info, 0, info->Length );
      }
      finally
      {
         if ( fs )
            delete (IDisposable^)fs;
      }
   }
   
   // Open the stream and read it back.
   FileStream^ fs = File::OpenRead( path );
   try
   {
      array<Byte>^b = gcnew array<Byte>(1024);
      UTF8Encoding^ temp = gcnew UTF8Encoding( true );
      while ( fs->Read( b, 0, b->Length ) > 0 )
      {
         Console::WriteLine( temp->GetString( b ) );
      }
   }
   finally
   {
      if ( fs )
         delete (IDisposable^)fs;
   }
}

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;

class Test
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        string path = @"c:\temp\MyTest.txt";

        if (!File.Exists(path))
        {
            // Create the file.
            using (FileStream fs = File.Create(path))
            {
                Byte[] info = new UTF8Encoding(true).GetBytes("This is some text in the file.");

                // Add some information to the file.
                fs.Write(info, 0, info.Length);
            }
        }

        // Open the stream and read it back.
        using (FileStream fs = File.OpenRead(path))
        {
            byte[] b = new byte[1024];
            UTF8Encoding temp = new UTF8Encoding(true);

            while (fs.Read(b,0,b.Length) > 0)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(temp.GetString(b));
            }
        }
    }
}

open System.IO
open System.Text

let path = @"c:\temp\MyTest.txt"

if File.Exists path |> not then
    // Create the file.
    use fs = File.Create path

    let info =
        UTF8Encoding(true)
            .GetBytes "This is some text in the file."

    // Add some information to the file.
    fs.Write(info, 0, info.Length)

// Open the stream and read it back.
do
    use fs = File.OpenRead path
    let b = Array.zeroCreate 1024
    let temp = UTF8Encoding true

    while fs.Read(b, 0, b.Length) > 0 do
        printfn $"{temp.GetString b}"

Imports System.IO
Imports System.Text

Public Class Test
  Public Shared Sub Main()
    Dim path As String = "c:\temp\MyTest.txt"

    If Not File.Exists(path) Then
      ' Create the file.
      Using fs As FileStream = File.Create(path)
        Dim info As Byte() = New UTF8Encoding(True).GetBytes("This is some text in the file.")

        ' Add some information to the file.
        fs.Write(info, 0, info.Length)
      End Using
    End If

    ' Open the stream and read it back.
    Using fs As FileStream = File.OpenRead(path)
      Dim b(1023) As Byte
      Dim temp As UTF8Encoding = New UTF8Encoding(True)

      Do While fs.Read(b, 0, b.Length) > 0
        Console.WriteLine(temp.GetString(b))
      Loop
    End Using

  End Sub
End Class

Remarks

This method is equivalent to the FileStream(String, FileMode, FileAccess, FileShare) constructor overload with a FileMode value of Open, a FileAccess value of Read and a FileShare value of Read.

The path parameter is permitted to specify relative or absolute path information. Relative path information is interpreted as relative to the current working directory. To obtain the current working directory, see GetCurrentDirectory.

For a list of common I/O tasks, see Common I/O Tasks.

Applies to

Product	Versions
.NET	Core 1.0, Core 1.1, Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
.NET Framework	1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard	1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 2.0, 2.1
UWP	10.0

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