The two programs here are an improvement. They contain some error checking for the case when it is not possible to read and or write to the temp folder for whatever reason. The second program also deletes the temporary file once it has read from it (this is a good idea so you don't fill up your Temp folder with lots of garbage). Finally, the temp file can contain any number of lines of text. Each line is stored in the text file as separated by double forward slash characters //.
You might also be interested in reading a text file byte by byte.
Code for program one:
REM this program writes a
REM temporary text file
text$ = ""
in$ = CHR$(255)
PRINT "Enter text at prompt. Press enter to finish."
WHILE in$ <> ""
INPUT ">" in$
IF in$<> "" text$ += (in$ + "//" )
ENDWHILE
REM create the file
PRINT "writing temp file"
errmessage$ = ""
IF NOT(FN_createTempFile( "mytemp.tmp", text$, errmessage$ ) ) THEN
PRINT errmessage$
ELSE
PRINT "done"
ENDIF
STOP
DEFFN_createTempFile( filename$, text$, RETURN message$ )
REM writes the text into the temp file whose
REM filename is passed in filename$
ON ERROR LOCAL message$ = "Cannot create temp file.": ENDPROC
LOCAL file%
file% = OPENOUT( @tmp$+filename$ )
PRINT#file%, text$
CLOSE#file%
= TRUE
Code for program two:
REM temp text file of any length
REM and deletes it after use
INSTALL @lib$+"stringlib"
filename$ = "mytemp.tmp"
PRINT "looking for the text file."
errmessage$ = ""
text$ = FN_readTempFile( filename$, errmessage$)
IF errmessage$ = "" THEN
REM finished with temp file so delete it
IF NOTFN_deleteTempFile( filename$, errmessage$ ) THEN
PRINT "<ERROR>"'errmessage$
ELSE
PRINT "Temp file deleted"
PRINT "file contains:"
PROC_showText( text$ )
ENDIF
ELSE
PRINT "<ERROR>"'errmessage$
ENDIF
STOP
DEFPROC_showText( this$ )
LOCAL parts%
LOCAL a$()
LOCAL i%
DIM a$(1)
parts% = FN_split(this$, "//", a$() )
FOR i% = 0 TO parts%-1
PRINT STR$(i%)": "a$(i%)
NEXT
ENDPROC
DEFFN_readTempFile( filename$, RETURN message$ )
REM reads the temporary file and returns the text
REM as a string
ON ERROR LOCAL message$ = "Cannot read from temp file." : = ""
LOCAL file%, temp$
file% = OPENIN( @tmp$+filename$ )
WHILE NOT(EOF#file%)
INPUT#file%, temp$
text$ += (temp$+CHR$(13)+CHR$(10))
ENDWHILE
CLOSE#file%
= text$
DEFFN_deleteTempFile( filename$, RETURN message$ )
ON ERROR LOCAL message$ = "Cannot delete temp file": = FALSE
OSCLI "DEL "+@tmp$+filename$
= TRUE