Re: Read a header and then a binary file?

Rich Townsend <rhdt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> Isn't there a big oversight here, that UNFORMATTED is not the same as a
> raw data stream? On many systems, UNFORMATTED has codes inserted that
> describe the size of the next bit of data. These codes will be gibberish
> if you try to read a piece of text as UNFORMATTED.

You are describing unformatted sequential. The "sequential" part is
im****tant; if you leave it off, then the statement is incorrect. There
are also unformatted direct access and unformatted stream. The later two
do not normally have any such extra codes inserted. Unformatted direct
access doesn't have them in the usual implementation, though the
standard doesn't require that implementation.

For unformatted stream, the standard specifies that it must be the raw
data stream. That's usually what people are referring to when they use
the common but inappropriate term "binary".

-- 
Richard Maine                    | Good judgement comes from experience;
email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgement.
domain: summertriangle           |  -- Mark Twain