Name

FileClose Procedure

Class

Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileSystem

Syntax

FileClose([filenumber][, filenumber][,...])
filenumber

Use: Optional

Data Type: Integer

The file number (or numbers) of an open file (or files), opened using the FileOpen procedure

Description

Closes one or more files opened with the FileOpen procedure

Rules at a Glance

  • If filenumber is omitted, all open files are closed.

  • If the file you are closing was opened for Output or Append, the remaining data in the I/O buffer is written to the file. The memory buffer is then reclaimed.

  • When the FileClose procedure is executed, the file number used is freed for further use.

  • filenumber can either be a literal number, a numeric constant, or a numeric variable.

Programming Tips and Gotchas

  • With the FileClose procedure, you can close more than one file at once by specifying the file numbers as a comma-delimited list, as shown here:

    FileClose(1, 3, 4)
  • The FileClose procedure does not check first to see if there is a file associated with the given file number. Therefore, no error occurs if you use the FileClose procedure with a nonexistent file number. The drawback to this is that you may inadvertently think you have closed a file, when in fact you haven’t.

VB .NET/VB 6 Differences

FileClose is new to VB .NET. It replaces the Close statement in VB 6.

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