PeekChars Method

PeekChars Method

Location

TextFieldParser.PeekChars

Syntax

     Dim fileParser As FileIO.TextFieldParser     ' ...later...     Dim result As String = fileParser.PeekChars(peekLength)

peekLength (required; Integer): The number of characters to read and return

Description

The PeekChars method returns the specified number of characters from the current position in the input file, but it does not alter the current position. Blank lines are ignored when using this method.

Usage at a Glance

This method never returns characters beyond the end of the current line, no matter now many characters were requested.
You must close the TextFieldParser object when finished with it. Use the object's Close method or create the object instance with the Using keyword. See the TextFieldParser Object entry in this chapter for an example.

Example

This code opens a tab-delimited file for scanning but stops early if it detects an artificial end-of-file marker.

     Dim oneLine(  ) As String     Dim inputFile As FileIO.TextFieldParser = _        My.Computer.FileSystem.OpenTextFieldParser( _        "c:\temp\data.txt", vbTab)     Do While Not inputFile.EndOfData        ' ----- Check for the EOF marker.        If (inputFile.PeekChars(3) = "EOF") Then Exit Do        ' ----- OK to process this line.        oneLine = inputFile.ReadFields(  )        ' ----- Process data here...     Loop     inputFile.Close(  )

Related Framework Entries

Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.TextFieldParser.PeekChars Method