NAME

read_file() - read a file into a string

SYNOPSIS

string read_file(string file, int start_line, int number_of_lines);

DESCRIPTION

Read a line of text from a file into a string. The second and third arguments are optional. If only the first argument is specified, the entire file is returned (as a string).

The start_line is the line number of the line you wish to read. This routine will return 0 if you try to read past the end of the file, or if you try to read from a nonpositive line.

SEE ALSO

log_file(3) , write_file(3) .