VB.Net - File Handling

---

---

A file is a collection of data stored in a disk with a specific name and a directory path. When a file is opened for reading or writing, it becomes a stream.

The stream is basically the sequence of bytes passing through the communication path. There are two main streams: the input stream and the output stream. The input stream is used for reading data from file (read operation) and the output stream is used for writing into the file (write operation).

VB.Net I/O Classes

The System.IO namespace has various classes that are used for performing various operations with files, like creating and deleting files, reading from or writing to a file, closing a file, etc.

The following table shows some commonly used non-abstract classes in the System.IO namespace −

The FileStream Class

The FileStream class in the System.IO namespace helps in reading from, writing to and closing files. This class derives from the abstract class Stream.

You need to create a FileStream object to create a new file or open an existing file. The syntax for creating a FileStream object is as follows −

Dim <object_name> As FileStream = New FileStream(<file_name>, <FileMode Enumerator>, <FileAccess Enumerator>, <FileShare Enumerator>)

For example, for creating a FileStream object F for reading a file named sample.txt −

Dim f1 As FileStream = New FileStream("sample.txt", FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.ReadWrite)

Example

The following program demonstrates use of the FileStream class −

Imports System.IO
Module fileProg
   Sub Main()
      Dim f1 As FileStream = New FileStream("sample.txt", _ FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.ReadWrite)
      Dim i As Integer
      
      For i = 0 To 20
         f1.WriteByte(CByte(i))
      Next i
      f1.Position = 0
      
      For i = 0 To 20
         Console.Write("{0} ", f1.ReadByte())
      Next i
      f1.Close()
      Console.ReadKey()
   End Sub
End Module

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result −

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 -1

Advanced File Operations in VB.Net

The preceding example provides simple file operations in VB.Net. However, to utilize the immense powers of System.IO classes, you need to know the commonly used properties and methods of these classes.

We will discuss these classes and the operations they perform in the following sections. Please click the links provided to get to the individual sections −