read_char, read_double, read_float, read_long, read_short

Gamma: Version 4.0
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# `read_char`, `read_double`, `read_float`, `read_long`, `read_short`

`read_char`, `read_double`, `read_float`, `read_long`, `read_short` -- read the next character, double, float, long or short value in binary representation from the input file.

## Syntax

    read_char (file)
    read_double (file)
    read_float (file)
    read_long (file)
    read_short (file)

## Arguments

`file`

  A file pointer to a previously opened file. This may be either a file in the file system, or a string opened for read and write.

## Returns

`read_char` returns the decimal representation of a string of length 1 containing a single character, or -1 indicating end of file.

`read_double`, `read_float` return a floating point value, or `nan` indicating end of file.

`read_long`, `read_short` return an integer value, or -1 indicating end of file.

## Description

These functions read the next character, double, float, long or short value in binary representation from the input file, regardless of Lisp expression syntax. This allows a programmer to read binary files constructed by other programs.

## Example

The file "myfile.dat" contains the following:

ajz

Successive calls to `read_char` will produce:

        Gamma> ft = open ("myreadcfile.dat","r");
        #<File:"myreadcfile.dat">
        Gamma> read_char(ft);
        97
        Gamma> read_char(ft);
        106
        Gamma> read_char(ft);
        122
        Gamma> read_char(ft);
        -1 Gamma>

## See Also

`read`, `read_line`, `read_until`

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