Input, Input$

Returns a fixed number of characters read from a file opened in Input or Binary mode.

Syntax:

Input( Number , [ # ] FileNumber ) — returns a Variant.
Input$( Number , [ # ] FileNumber ) — returns a String.

Number: required The number of characters to return.
FileNumber: required The file number used to open the file with the Open statement.

Data read with Input is usually written to a file with Print # or Put. Use this function only with files opened in Input or Binary mode.

Unlike the Input # statement, the Input function returns all the characters it reads, including commas, carriage returns, linefeeds, quotation marks, and leading spaces.

For files opened for Binary access, an attempt to read through the file using Input until EOF returns True generates an error. Use LOF and Loc instead of EOF when reading binary files with Input, or use Get when EOF is needed.

Note

Use InputB for byte data contained within text files. With InputB, Number specifies the number of bytes to return rather than the number of characters.

Example

This example uses the Input function to read one character at a time from a file and print it to the immediate window. TESTFILE is assumed to be a text file with a few lines of sample data.

Dim MyChar As Variant
Open "TESTFILE" For Input As #1     ' Open file.
Do While Not EOF(1)                 ' Loop until end of file.
    MyChar = Input(1, #1)           ' Get one character.
    Debug.Print MyChar              ' Print to the immediate window.
Loop
Close #1                            ' Close file.

Input, Input$

Example

See Also