$write(<fd> <text>)
$writeb(<fd> <text>)

This function writes the given text to the given file descriptor. A newline is automatically appended to the text. The $writeb() variant does the same thing, except the newline is not automatically appended.

As a special case, a window refnum can be given as the file descriptor by prefixing the refnum with a w. This provides access to the logfile for that window. The reserved window refnum 0 can be used to address the current window's logfile, and the reserved window refnum -1 actually addresses the global logfile.

This function is useful for saving information to an external file. It is most often used in scripts for saving configuration settings and the like. The $writeb() function is useful for writing to binary files, or for writing lines to a file incrementally.

  -1   if file descriptor does not exist
> -1   number of bytes written (text length plus newline, if applicable)

$write(7 blah blah)             writes "blah blah" plus NL to fd "7"
$write(foo bar)                 "foo" not an fd, writes nothing
$writeb(7 blah blah)            writes "blah blah" to fd "7"
$writeb(foo bar)                "foo" not an fd, writes nothing
$write(w1 this is a test)       write to window refnum 1's logfile
$write(w0 this is a test)       write to the current window's logfile
$write(w-1 this is a test)      write to the global logfile