Re: if file exist

[Keith Thompson <kst@cts.com>]

Simon Wright <simon@pushface.org> writes:
> Dale Stanbrough <dale@cs.rmit.edu.au> writes:
> > Ask the operating system? Another way is to attempt to open
> > the file. If it opens successfully then it exists.
> 
> and is readable (assuning you tried to open it for read!). It might
> exist and not be readable, in which case this test would fail.

Or, even if the file exists and is readable, the open might fail for
any number of reasons depending on the OS.  For example, in an OS that
distinguishes between binary and text files, using Text_IO.Open on a
binary file might fail.  (Then again, in such an OS, knowing whether a
file exists might not be all that useful.)

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst@cts.com  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center           <*>  <http://www.sdsc.edu/~kst>
Schroedinger does Shakespeare: "To be *and* not to be"