readfile(1F)                                            readfile(1F)


       NAME
             readfile, longline - read file, get 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 readfile function primarily checks the system's locale.
             If it is not set to C (default), it tries to read file from
             dirname/$LANG.  If no file can be found under dirname/$LANG,
             file will be read from dirname.

             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 (that is,
             the expression will have an error return).

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





                           Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc.               Page 1

      readfile(1F)                                            readfile(1F)


      NOTICES
            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.

      REFERENCES
            cat(1)






































                          Copyright 1994 Novell, Inc.               Page 2