How do I delete the contents of a file or make and write to a new one?

[computergroove]

I figured out how to write to an existing file but I cannot figure out how to erase the contents of the file before I write to it. Deleting the file and recreating a new one would work too but I cant find info on either.

[Varian]

From the help file:

FileOpen ("filename" [,mode])

Opens a text file for reading or writing.

Parameters

filename Filename of the text file to open.

mode [optional] Mode to open the file in.

Can be a combination of the following:

0 = Read mode (default)

1 = Write mode (append to end of file)

2 = Write mode (erase previous contents)

8 = Create directory structure if it doesn't exist (See Remarks).

16 = Force binary mode (See Remarks).

32 = Use Unicode UTF16 Little Endian reading and writing mode. Reading does not override existing BOM.

64 = Use Unicode UTF16 Big Endian reading and writing mode. Reading does not override existing BOM.

128 = Use Unicode UTF8 (with BOM) reading and writing mode. Reading does not override existing BOM.

256 = Use Unicode UTF8 (without BOM) reading and writing mode.

16384 = When opening for reading and no BOM is present, use full file UTF8 detection. If this is not

used then only the initial part of the file is checked for UTF8.

The folder path must already exist (except using mode '8' - See Remarks).

What you want is mode 2

FileOpen("Readme.txt", 2)  ;erase preivious contents

Edited January 10, 2011 by Varian

[Newb]

Well surely Varian opinion is more professional than mine, but, i think also FileRead would be fine.

You can read the file with it, copy where you need it, then delete the content of the previous with filedelete.

FileReadLine allow a selective reading.

[Varian]

Well surely Varian opinion is more professional than mine, but, i think also FileRead would be fine.

You can read the file with it, copy where you need it, then delete the content of the previous with filedelete.

FileReadLine allow a selective reading.

You answered with the OP's other option, so your point is just as valid. I would suggest the FileOpen() mode 2 depending on the way in which the OP chooses/needs to create the "replacement" file. It may be that he/she would still utilize FileOpen() to create this file, or maybe _FileCreate() because unless your function or command creates the file intrinsically, he/she would still need to create the file again in order to write to it.

[computergroove]

That worked. Thank You. Also I was checking the manual for filewrite and filereplace. I never would have guessed fileopen.

Edited January 10, 2011 by computergroove