Seek Function
Returns a Long specifying the current read/write position within a file opened using the FileOpen function, or sets the position for the next read/write operation within a file opened using the FileOpen function.
The My feature gives you greater productivity and performance in file I/O operations than Seek. For more information, see My.Computer.FileSystem Object.
Public Overloads Function Seek( _
ByVal FileNumber As Integer _
) As Long
' -or-
Public Overloads Sub Seek( _
ByVal FileNumber As Integer, _
ByVal Position As Long _
)
Parameters
FileNumber
Required. An Integer containing a valid file number.Position
Required. Number in the range 1–2,147,483,647, inclusive, that indicates where the next read/write operation should occur.
Exceptions
Exception type |
Error number |
Condition |
|---|---|---|
FileNumber does not exist. |
||
File mode is invalid. |
See the "Error number" column if you are upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 applications that use unstructured error handling. (You can compare the error number against the Number Property (Err Object).) However, when possible, you should consider replacing such error control with Structured Exception Handling Overview for Visual Basic.
Remarks
Seek returns a value between 1 and 2,147,483,647 (equivalent to 2^31 – 1), inclusive.
The following describes the return values for each file access mode:
Mode |
Return Value |
|---|---|
Random |
Number of the next record read or written |
Binary, Input, Output, Append |
Byte position at which the next operation takes place. The first byte in a file is at position 1, the second byte is at position 2, and so on. |
Example
This example uses the Seek function to return the current file position. The example assumes TestFile is a file containing records of the structure Record.
Structure Record ' Define user-defined type.
Dim ID As Integer
Dim Name As String
End Structure
For files opened in Random mode, Seek returns the number of next record.
FileOpen(1, "TESTFILE", OpenMode.Random)
Do While Not EOF(1)
WriteLine(1,Seek(1)) ' Write record number.
FileGet(1, MyRecord, -1) ' Read next record.
Loop
FileClose(1)
For files opened in modes other than Random mode, Seek returns the byte position at which the next operation takes place. Assume TestFile is a file containing a few lines of text.
' Report character position at beginning of each line.
Dim TextLine As String
FileOpen(1, "TESTFILE", OpenMode.Input) ' Open file for reading.
While Not EOF(1)
' Read next line.
TextLine = LineInput(1)
' Position of next line.
MsgBox(Seek(1))
End While
FileClose(1)
This example uses the Seek function to set the position for the next read or write within a file. This example assumes People.txt is a file containing records of the structure Record.
Structure TestRecord
Dim Name As String
Dim ID As Integer
End Structure
For files opened in modes other than Random mode, Seek sets the byte position at which the next operation takes place. Assume TestFile is a file containing a few lines of text.
Dim someText As String = "This is a test string."
' Open file for output.
FileOpen(1, "TESTFILE", OpenMode.Input)
' Move to the third character.
Seek(1, 3)
Input(1, someText)
Console.WriteLine(someText)
FileClose(1)
Smart Device Developer Notes
This function is not supported.
Requirements
Namespace: Microsoft.VisualBasic
**Module:**FileSystem
Assembly: Visual Basic Runtime Library (in Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll)