Re: Reading file in emacs

[Kevin Rodgers]

Qiang Guo wrote:

> I'm wondering if there is a way to read the content of files, say, to a
> variable rather than a buffer ? Of course, one way to do
> this is first read file into buffer and then edit the
> buffer.

That is the best way to do it.  To get the content into a variable:

(let ((file-content (with-temp-buffer
                      (insert-file-contents "/path/to/file.txt")
                      (buffer-string))))
  ...
)

? Here comes my second question, how to process file
> in a byte-by-byte fashion, for instance, instead of editing
> a line of text, I'd like to edit directly their binary
> representations ?

Use insert-file-contents-literally above.

> I know this is best done by C/C++, or some other
> languages. However, I just wonder the possibility of doing
> this in emacs, the greatest editor ever :-)

The best tool for a job also depends on the craftsman using it.  For me
it is Emacs, not C/C++.

--
Kevin Rodgers
Denver, Colorado, USA