OpenRead

OpenRead["file"] opens a file to read data from, and returns an InputStream object.

OpenRead prepares to read from a file, starting at the beginning of the file.

On systems that support pipes, OpenRead["!command"] runs the external program specified by command, and opens a pipe to get input from it.

If OpenRead does not succeed in opening a particular file or pipe, it generates a message, and returns $Failed.

OpenRead resolves file names according to the procedure described in Section A.6.1.

The function ReadList automatically opens files or pipes that it needs.

OpenRead returns InputStream["name", n], where name is the full name of a file or command, and n is a serial number that is unique across all streams opened in the current Mathematica session.

Setting the option DOSTextFormat->True causes all input to be treated as coming from a text-mode file on an MS-DOS or related system. This means that \r\n pairs are interpreted as single newlines, and Z is interpreted as EndOfFile.

See The Mathematica Book: Section 2.11.8.

See also: Close, Read, ReadList, Streams, LinkCreate.