Sets the position for the next read/write operation within a file opened using the Open statement.

Syntax

Seek [#]filenumber, position

The Seek statement syntax has these parts:

Part Description
filenumber Required. Any valid file number.
position Required. Number in the range 1 - 2,147,483,647, inclusive, that indicates where the next read/write operation should occur.

Remarks

Record numbers specified in Get and Put statements override file positioning performed by Seek.

Performing a file-write operation after a Seek operation beyond the end of a file extends the file. If you attempt a Seek operation to a negative or zero position, an error occurs.

Example

This example uses the Seek statement to set the position for the next read or write within a file. This example assumes 

TESTFILE
is a file containing records of the user-defined type 
Record
. 
Type Record ' Define user-defined type. ID As Integer Name As String * 20 End Type

For files opened in Random mode, Seek sets the next record. 

Dim MyRecord As Record, MaxSize, RecordNumber ' Declare variables. ' Open file in random-file mode. Open "TESTFILE" For Random As #1 Len = Len(MyRecord) MaxSize = LOF(1) \ Len(MyRecord) ' Get number of records in file. ' The loop reads all records starting from the last. For RecordNumber = MaxSize To 1 Step - 1 Seek #1, RecordNumber ' Set position. Get #1,, MyRecord ' Read record. Next RecordNumber Close #1 ' Close file.

For files opened in modes other than Random mode, Seek sets the byte position at which the next operation takes place. Assume 

TESTFILE
is a file containing a few lines of text. 
Dim MaxSize, NextChar, MyChar Open "TESTFILE" For Input As #1 ' Open file for input. MaxSize = LOF(1) ' Get size of file in bytes. ' The loop reads all characters starting from the last. For NextChar = MaxSize To 1 Step -1 Seek #1, NextChar ' Set position. MyChar = Input(1, #1) ' Read character. Next NextChar Close #1 ' Close file.