readfile(1F)  (Form and Menu Language Interpreter Utilities)   readfile(1F)


   NAME
         readfile, longline - reads file, gets longest line

   SYNOPSIS
         readfile file
         longline [file]

   DESCRIPTION
         The readfile function reads file and copies it to stdout.  No
         translation of NEWLINE is done.  It keeps track of the longest line
         it reads and if there is a subsequent call to longline, the length of
         that line, including the NEWLINE character, is returned.

         The longline function returns the length, including the NEWLINE
         character, of the longest line in file.  If file is not specified, it
         uses the file named in the last call to readfile.

   EXAMPLES
         Here is a typical use of readfile and longline in a text frame
         definition file:

                  .
                  .
                  .
               text="`readfile myfile`"
               columns=`longline`
                  .
                  .
                  .

   DIAGNOSTICS
         If file does not exist, readfile will return FALSE (i.e., the
         expression will have an error return).

         longline returns 0 if a readfile has not previously been issued.

   NOTES
         More than one descriptor can call readfile in the same frame
         definition file.  In text frames, if one of those calls is made from
         the text descriptor, then a subsequent use of longline will always
         get the longest line of the file read by the readfile associated with
         the text descriptor, even if it was not the most recent use of
         readfile.

   SEE ALSO
         cat(1).







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