VMS Help PASCAL, Input Output, Seq Access Input, RESET  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

  The RESET procedure readies a file for reading.

  Syntax:

     RESET( file_variable [[, file_name]]
            [[, ERROR := error-recovery]] );

  The 'file_variable' is the name of the file variable  associated
  with  the input file.  You do not need this argument if the file
  was opened with the OPEN procedure.

  The  'file_name'  represents  the  string   expression   to   be
  associated with the 'file_variable'.  If the file was previously
  opened with the OPEN procedure, 'file_name' is ignored.

  The 'error-recovery' represents the action to  be  taken  if  an
  error occurs during execution of the routine.  By default, after
  the first error, the error message is printed and  execution  is
  stopped.

  The file can be in any mode before you call  RESET;  a  call  to
  RESET  sets  the  file  to  inspection  mode.  If the file is an
  external file and is not already open, RESET opens it using  the
  same  defaults  as  the OPEN procedure.  You cannot use RESET to
  create a file.

  After execution of RESET, the file is positioned  at  the  first
  component,  and  the  file buffer variable contains the value of
  this component.  If the file is not empty, EOF  and  UFB  return
  FALSE  and  the  first  component is locked to prevent access by
  other processes.  If the file is empty, EOF and UFB return TRUE.
  If  the  file  does  not  exist,  RESET  does not create it, but
  returns an error at run time.

  You should call RESET before reading any  file  with  sequential
  organization  except  the  predeclared  file  INPUT.   The RESET
  procedure removes the end-of-file marker from any file connected
  to  a  terminal  device (including INPUT), thus allowing reading
  from  the  file  to  continue.   If  you  call  RESET  for   the
  predeclared file OUTPUT, an error occurs.

  A call to RESET on a relative  file  opened  for  direct  access
  positions the file at its first existing component.

  A call to RESET on an  indexed  file  opened  for  keyed  access
  positions  the  file  at  the  first  component  relative to the
  primary key.

  See the "Compaq Pascal Language Reference Manual" for a complete
  description of the RESET procedure.