The '''SEEK''' statement sets the next byte or record position of a file for a read or write.



{{PageSyntax}}
:: SEEK ''filenumber&'', ''position''



* ''filenumber'' must be the file number that is [[OPEN]] and being read or written to.
* ''position'' is a byte in [[BINARY]] or sequencial files created in [[OUTPUT]], [[APPEND]] or [[INPUT (file mode)]]s. The first byte = 1.
* ''position'' is the record in [[RANDOM]] files to read or write. Records can hold more than one variable defined in a [[TYPE]].
* Since the first SEEK file position is 1 it may require adding one to an offset value when documentation uses that position as 0.
* After a SEEK statement, the next file operation starts at that SEEK byte position.
* The SEEK statement can work with the [[SEEK]] function to move around in a file.


''Example:'' A SEEK statement using the [[SEEK]] function to move to the next random record in a file.

{{CodeStart}}
 SEEK 1, {{Cl|SEEK}}(1) + 1
{{CodeEnd}}



''See also:''
* [[SEEK]] {{text|(function)}}
* [[GET]], [[PUT]]


{{PageNavigation}}