VMS Help PASCAL, Data Types, Structured Types, File, Text file  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

  Compaq Pascal supplies  a  predefined  file  type  called  TEXT.
  Files  of  type  TEXT  are  sequences of characters with special
  markers  (end-of-line  and  end-of-file)  added  to  the   file.
  Although  each  character  of a TEXT file is one file component,
  the  end-of-line  marker  allows  you  to   process   the   file
  line-by-line (using READLN, WRITELN, or EOLN), if you choose.

  The predeclared file variables INPUT and  OUTPUT  are  files  of
  type TEXT.  They refer to the standard input and output files.

  The file type FILE OF CHAR differs from TEXT files in that  FILE
  OF  CHAR  allows  a  single character to be the unit of transfer
  between a program and its associated I/O devices and  that  FILE
  OF  CHAR  files  do  not  include special markers.  FILE OF CHAR
  components are always read with the READ procedure, and must  be
  read  exclusively  into  variables  of type CHAR, including CHAR
  components of structured variables.  You cannot  use  the  EOLN,
  READLN, and WRITELN routines on FILE OF CHAR files.