File.OpenWrite(String) Method

Reference

Definition

Namespace:: System.IO

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

Assembly:: System.IO.FileSystem.dll

Assembly:: System.Runtime.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 or creates a new file for writing.

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

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

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

Public Shared Function OpenWrite (path As String) As FileStream

Parameters

path: String

The file to be opened for writing.

Returns

FileStream

An unshared FileStream object on the specified path with Write access.

Exceptions

UnauthorizedAccessException

The caller does not have the required permission.

-or-

path specified a read-only file or directory.

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).

NotSupportedException

path is in an invalid format.

Examples

The following example opens a file for reading and writing.

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

int main()
{
   String^ path = "c:\\temp\\MyTest.txt";

   // Open the stream and write to it.
   {
      FileStream^ fs = File::OpenWrite( path );
      try
      {
         array<Byte>^info = (gcnew UTF8Encoding( true ))->
            GetBytes( "This is to test the OpenWrite method." );

         // 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";

        // Open the stream and write to it.
        using (FileStream fs = File.OpenWrite(path))
        {
            Byte[] info =
                new UTF8Encoding(true).GetBytes("This is to test the OpenWrite method.");

            // 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"

// Open the stream and write to it.
do
    use fs = File.OpenWrite path

    let info =
        UTF8Encoding(true)
            .GetBytes "This is to test the OpenWrite method."

    // 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"

    ' Open the stream and write to it.
    Using fs As FileStream = File.OpenWrite(path)
      Dim info As Byte() = _
       New UTF8Encoding(True).GetBytes("This is to test the OpenWrite method.")

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

    '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 file mode set to OpenOrCreate, the access set to Write, and the share mode set to None.

The OpenWrite method opens a file if one already exists for the file path, or creates a new file if one does not exist. For an existing file, it does not append the new text to the existing text. Instead, it overwrites the existing characters with the new characters. If you overwrite a longer string (such as "This is a test of the OpenWrite method") with a shorter string (such as "Second run"), the file will contain a mix of the strings ("Second runtest of the OpenWrite method").

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

The returned FileStream does not support reading. To open a file for both reading and writing, use Open.

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

Applies to

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