<HEAD> <TITLE> read_file - read a file into a string </TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BACKGROUND=http://www.imaginary.com/~beek/gifs/bg.jpg TEXT=#000000 ALINK=#FFFF00 VLINK=#550000 LINK=#000099> <center> <H1> read_file - read a file into a string </H1> </center> <p> <b> string read_file( string file, int start_line, int number_of_lines ); </b> <p> Read a line of text from a file into a string. The second and third arguments are optional. If only the first argument is specified, the entire file is returned (as a string). <p> The start_line is the line number of the line you wish to read. This routine will return 0 if you try to read past the end of the file, or if you try to read from a nonpositive line. <p> See also: <A HREF=write_file.html> write_file </A>, <A HREF=../buffers/read_buffer.html> read_buffer </A>