Stream.ReadByte Method (System.IO)

ReadByte Method

.NET Framework Class Library

Stream..::.ReadByte Method

Reads a byte from the stream and advances the position within the stream by one byte, or returns -1 if at the end of the stream.

Namespace: System.IO
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public Overridable Function ReadByte As Integer

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim instance As Stream
Dim returnValue As Integer

returnValue = instance.ReadByte()

public virtual int ReadByte()

Visual C++

public:
virtual int ReadByte()

JScript

public function ReadByte() : int

Return Value

Type: System..::.Int32
The unsigned byte cast to an Int32, or -1 if at the end of the stream.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
NotSupportedException	The stream does not support reading.
ObjectDisposedException	Methods were called after the stream was closed.

Remarks

For an example of creating a file and writing text to a file, see How to: Write Text to a File. For an example of reading text from a file, see How to: Read Text from a File. For an example of reading from and writing to a binary file, see How to: Read and Write to a Newly Created Data File.

Use the CanRead property to determine whether the current instance supports reading.

Attempts to manipulate the stream after the stream has been closed could throw an ObjectDisposedException.

Notes to Implementers:

The default implementation on Stream creates a new single-byte array and then calls Read. While this is formally correct, it is inefficient. Any stream with an internal buffer should override this method and provide a much more efficient version that reads the buffer directly, avoiding the extra array allocation on every call.

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0, 1.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 3.0, 2.0, 1.0

Reference

Stream Class

Stream Members

System.IO Namespace

Other Resources

File and Stream I/O

How to: Read Text from a File

How to: Write Text to a File