Quick start manual

Standard routines and I/O 8-1
Chapter
8
Chapter8 Standard routines and I/O
This chapter discusses text and file I/O and summarizes standard library routines.
Many of the procedures and functions listed here are defined in the System and
SysInit units, which are implicitly used with every application. Others are built into
the compiler but are treated as if they were in the System unit.
Some standard routines are in units such as SysUtils, which must be listed in a uses
clause to make them available in programs. You cannot, however, list System in a
uses clause, nor should you modify the System unit or try to rebuild it explicitly.
For more information about the routines listed here, see the online Help.
File input and output
The table below lists input and output routines.
Table 8.1 Input and output procedures and functions
Procedure or
function
Description
Append Opens an existing text file for appending.
AssignFile Assigns the name of an external file to a file variable.
BlockRead Reads one or more records from an untyped file.
BlockWrite Writes one or more records into an untyped file.
ChDir Changes the current directory.
CloseFile Closes an open file.
Eof Returns the end-of-file status of a file.
Eoln Returns the end-of-line status of a text file.
Erase Erases an external file.
FilePos Returns the current file position of a typed or untyped file.
FileSize Returns the current size of a file; not used for text files.