fread Binary-safe file read stringfread intfp intlength fread reads up to length bytes from the file pointer referenced by fp. Reading stops when length bytes have been read or EOF is reached, whichever comes first. On systems which differentiate between binary and text files (i.e. Windows) the file must be opened with 'b' included in fopen mode parameter. See also fwrite, fopen, fsockopen, popen, fgets, fgetss, fscanf, file, and fpassthru.