Ada Reference Manual (Ada 2022) — Legal Information

# A.10.2 Text File Management

#### Static Semantics

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The only allowed file modes for text files are the modes In_File, Out_File, and Append_File. The subprograms given in A.8.2 for the control of external files, and the function End_Of_File given in A.8.3 for sequential input-output, are also available for text files. There is also a version of End_Of_File that refers to the current default input file. For text files, the procedures have the following additional effects:
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For the procedures Create and Open: After a file with mode Out_File or Append_File is opened, the page length and line length are unbounded (both have the conventional value zero). After a file (of any mode) is opened, the current column, current line, and current page numbers are set to one. If the mode is Append_File, it is implementation defined whether a page terminator will separate preexisting text in the file from the new text to be written.
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For the procedure Close: If the file has the current mode Out_File or Append_File, has the effect of calling New_Page, unless the current page is already terminated; then outputs a file terminator.
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For the procedure Reset: If the file has the current mode Out_File or Append_File, has the effect of calling New_Page, unless the current page is already terminated; then outputs a file terminator. The current column, line, and page numbers are set to one, and the line and page lengths to Unbounded. If the new mode is Append_File, it is implementation defined whether a page terminator will separate preexisting text in the file from the new text to be written.
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The exception Mode_Error is propagated by the procedure Reset upon an attempt to change the mode of a file that is the current default input file, the current default output file, or the current default error file.
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NOTE An implementation can define the Form parameter of Create and Open to control effects including the following:
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the interpretation of line and column numbers for an interactive file, and
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the interpretation of text formats in a file created by a foreign program.

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