title: Using FileSystemObject or the Input # statement to read data from text files
body: <p>I have to read in some data from text files formated like the example below, with e.g. 5 variables separated by a tab or space delimiter (not fixed-width columns). </p>
  
  <pre><code>Montreal 0.2 h 3 500
  Otherplace 0.1 m 50 25
  Thirdplace 0.05 m 62 112
  [...]
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I could read these in using the Input # statement, and that's what I've mostly been doing, because it's the easiest/laziest approach. But:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>The Input # statement doesn't always recognize tabs as delimiters.</li>
  <li>The whole Input # vernacular has a very "deprecated" feel to it! </li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>I'm thinking about modernizing and reading files using the FileSystemObject methods (already do so for writing files). </p>
  
  <p>But doesn't this requires a lot of string manipulation to parse out my 5 variable values? Any suggestions on how best to do this?  </p>
  
  <p>Also, what's a good way of determining how many lines there are in the text file? So I can ReDim my arrays ahead of time. </p>