File Handling

Use the FileStream class to read from, write to, open, and close files on a file system, as well as to manipulate other file-related operating system handles including pipes, standard input, and standard output. You can specify read and write operations to be either synchronous or asynchronous. FileStream buffers input and output for better performance.

Write Text to a New File

Imports System
Imports System.IO
Public Class TextToFile
    Private Const FILE_NAME As String = "MyFile.txt"
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        If File.Exists(FILE_NAME) Then
            Console.WriteLine("{0} already exists.", FILE_NAME)
            Return
        End If
        Using sw As StreamWriter = File.CreateText(FILE_NAME)
            sw.WriteLine("This is my file.")
            sw.WriteLine("I can write ints {0} or floats {1}, and so on.", 1, 4.2)
            sw.Close()
        End Using
    End Sub
End Class

Write In An Existing File

Imports System
Imports System.IO

Class Test
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        ' Create an instance of StreamWriter to write text to a file.
        Using sw As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter("TestFile.txt")
            ' Add some text to the file.
            sw.Write("This is the ")
            sw.WriteLine("header for the file.")
            sw.WriteLine("-------------------")
            ' Arbitrary objects can also be written to the file.
            sw.Write("The date is: ")
            sw.WriteLine(DateTime.Now)
            sw.Close()
        End Using
    End Sub
End Class

Read Text from a File

Imports System
Imports System.IO

Class Test
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Try
            ' Create an instance of StreamReader to read from a file.
            Using sr As StreamReader = New StreamReader("TestFile.txt")
                Dim line As String
                ' Read and display the lines from the file until the end 
                ' of the file is reached.
                Do
                    line = sr.ReadLine()
                    Console.WriteLine(Line)
                Loop Until line Is Nothing
            End Using
        Catch E As Exception
            ' Let the user know what went wrong.
            Console.WriteLine("The file could not be read:")
            Console.WriteLine(E.Message)
        End Try
    End Sub
End Class