SerialPort.ReadChar Method

Definition

Synchronously reads one character from the SerialPort input buffer.

public:
 int ReadChar();
public int ReadChar ();
member this.ReadChar : unit -> int
Public Function ReadChar () As Integer

Returns

The character that was read.

Exceptions

The specified port is not open.

The operation did not complete before the time-out period ended.

-or-

No character was available in the allotted time-out period.

Remarks

This method reads one complete character based on the encoding.

Use caution when using ReadByte and ReadChar together. Switching between reading bytes and reading characters can cause extra data to be read and/or other unintended behavior. If it is necessary to switch between reading text and reading binary data from the stream, select a protocol that carefully defines the boundary between text and binary data, such as manually reading bytes and decoding the data.

Note

Because the SerialPort class buffers data, and the stream contained in the BaseStream property does not, the two might conflict about how many bytes are available to read. The BytesToRead property can indicate that there are bytes to read, but these bytes might not be accessible to the stream contained in the BaseStream property because they have been buffered to the SerialPort class.

Applies to