Opens a FileStream on the specified path, with the specified mode and access.

[Visual Basic]
Overloads Public Shared Function Open( _
   ByVal path As String, _
   ByVal mode As FileMode, _
   ByVal access As FileAccess _
) As FileStream
[C#]
public static FileStream Open(
 string path,
 FileMode mode,
 FileAccess access
);
[C++]
public: static FileStream* Open(
 String* path,
 FileMode mode,
 FileAccess access
);
[JScript]
public static function Open(
   path : String,
 mode : FileMode,
 access : FileAccess
) : FileStream;

Parameters

path

The file to open.

mode

A FileMode value that specifies whether a file is created if one does not exist, and determines whether the contents of existing files are retained or overwritten.

access

A FileAccess value that specifies the operations that can be performed on the file.

Return Value

An unshared FileStream that provides access to the specified file, with the specified mode and access.

Exceptions

Remarks

This method is equivalent to FileStream(String, FileMode, FileAccess, FileShare.None).

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

For an example of using this method, see the Example section below. The following table lists examples of other typical or related I/O tasks.

Example

[Visual Basic, C#, C++] The following example opens a file with read-only access.

[Visual Basic] 
Imports System
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Text

Public Class Test
    Public Shared Sub Main()
        Dim path As String = "c:\temp\MyTest.txt"
        Dim fs As FileStream
        ' Delete the file if it exists.
        If File.Exists(path) = False Then
            ' Create the file.
            fs = File.Create(path)
            Dim info As Byte() = New UTF8Encoding(True).GetBytes("This is some text in the file.")

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

        ' Open the stream and read it back.
        fs = File.Open(path, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read)
        Dim b(1024) As Byte
        Dim temp As UTF8Encoding = New UTF8Encoding(True)

        Do While fs.Read(b, 0, b.Length) > 0
            Console.WriteLine(temp.GetString(b))
        Loop
        fs.Close()

    End Sub
End Class

[C#] 
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;

class Test 
{
    public static void Main() 
    {
        string path = @"c:\temp\MyTest.txt";

        // Delete the file if it exists.
        if (!File.Exists(path)) 
        {
            // Create the file.
            using (FileStream fs = File.Create(path)) 
            {
                Byte[] info = new UTF8Encoding(true).GetBytes("This is some text in the file.");
                // Add some information to the file.
                fs.Write(info, 0, info.Length);
            }
        }

        // Open the stream and read it back.
        using (FileStream fs = File.Open(path, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read)) 
        {
            byte[] b = new byte[1024];
            UTF8Encoding temp = new UTF8Encoding(true);

            while (fs.Read(b,0,b.Length) > 0) 
            {
                Console.WriteLine(temp.GetString(b));
            }

            try 
            {
                // Try to write to the file.
                fs.Write(b,0,b.Length);
            } 
            catch (Exception e) 
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Writing was disallowed, as expected: {0}", e.ToString());
            }
        }
    }
}

[C++] 
#using <mscorlib.dll>

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

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

    // Delete the file if it exists.
    if (!File::Exists(path)) {
        // Create the file.
        FileStream* fs = File::Create(path);
        try {
            Byte info[] = (new UTF8Encoding(true))->GetBytes(S"This is some text in the file.");
            // Add some information to the file.
            fs->Write(info, 0, info->Length);
        } __finally {
            if (fs) __try_cast<IDisposable*>(fs)->Dispose();
        }
    }

    // Open the stream and read it back.
    FileStream* fs = File::Open(path, FileMode::Open, FileAccess::Read);
    try {
        Byte b[] = new Byte[1024];
        UTF8Encoding* temp = new UTF8Encoding(true);

        while (fs->Read(b,0,b->Length) > 0) {
            Console::WriteLine(temp->GetString(b));
        }

        try {
            // Try to write to the file.
            fs->Write(b,0,b->Length);
        } catch (Exception* e) {
            Console::WriteLine(S"Writing was disallowed, as expected: {0}", e);
        }
    } __finally {
        if (fs) __try_cast<IDisposable*>(fs)->Dispose();
    }
}

[JScript] No example is available for JScript. To view a Visual Basic, C#, or C++ example, click the Language Filter button in the upper-left corner of the page.

Requirements

Platforms: Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003 family, .NET Compact Framework, Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) Standard

.NET Framework Security: 

• FileIOPermission for reading from and writing to the specified file. Associated enumerations: FileIOPermissionAccess.Read, FileIOPermissionAccess.Write

See Also

File Class | File Members | System.IO Namespace | File.Open Overload List | Working with I/O | Reading Text from a File | Writing Text to a File