FOPEN  FOPEN File Open Function


Usage
 
 Opens a file and returns a handle which can be used for subsequent
 file manipulations.  The general syntax for its use is
 
   fp = fopen(fname,mode,byteorder)
 
 Here fname is a string containing the name of the file to be 
 opened.  mode is the mode string for the file open command.
 The first character of the mode string is one of the following:
   -  'r'  Open  file  for  reading.  The file pointer is placed at          the beginning of the file.  The file can be read from, but	  not written to.
   -  'r+'   Open for reading and writing.  The file pointer is          placed at the beginning of the file.  The file can be read	  from and written to, but must exist at the outset.
   -  'w'    Open file for writing.  If the file already exists, it is          truncated to zero length.  Otherwise, a new file is	  created.  The file pointer is placed at the beginning of	  the file.
   -  'w+'   Open for reading and writing.  The file is created  if            it  does not  exist, otherwise it is truncated to zero	  length.  The file pointer placed at the beginning of the file.
   -  'a'    Open for appending (writing at end of file).  The file  is            created  if it does not exist.  The file pointer is placed at	  the end of the file.
   -  'a+'   Open for reading and appending (writing at end of file).   The          file  is created if it does not exist.  The file pointer is	  placed at the end of the file.
 On some platforms (e.g. Win32) it is necessary to add a 'b' for 
 binary files to avoid the operating system's 'CR/LF<->CR' translation.
 
 Finally, FreeMat has the ability to read and write files of any
 byte-sex (endian).  The third (optional) input indicates the 
 byte-endianness of the file.  If it is omitted, the native endian-ness
 of the machine running FreeMat is used.  Otherwise, the third
 argument should be one of the following strings:
   -  'le','ieee-le','little-endian','littleEndian','little'
   -  'be','ieee-be','big-endian','bigEndian','big'
 	
 If the file cannot be opened, or the file mode is illegal, then
 an error occurs. Otherwise, a file handle is returned (which is
 an integer).  This file handle can then be used with fread,
 fwrite, or fclose for file access.
 
 Note that three handles are assigned at initialization time:
   -  Handle 0 - is assigned to standard input
   -  Handle 1 - is assigned to standard output
   -  Handle 2 - is assigned to standard error
 These handles cannot be closed, so that user created file handles start at 3.
 
 