# $EPIC: writeb.txt,v 1.3 2007/06/05 03:59:51 jnelson Exp $
======Synopsis:======
$__writeb__(<fd> <text>)

======Technical:======
The [[writeb]] function will write binary data to an [[open]] file.  The
<text> you provide **must** be CTCP-encoded.  The [[xform]] function allows
you to convert data into ctcp-encoded format.  The [[writeb]] function 
**will not** append a newline to <text>, so if you are writing a text file
you are responsible for putting in newlines wherever they belong.

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.

======Practical:======
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.

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

======Examples:======
<file>
$writeb(7 blah blah)             writes "blah blah" to fd "7"
$writeb(foo bar)                 "foo" not an fd, writes nothing
$writeb(w1 this is a test)       write to window refnum 1's logfile
$writeb(w0 this is a test)       write to the current window's logfile
$writeb(w-1 this is a test)      write to the global logfile
</file>