You may have experienced a problem with the write command in HyperCard:
when you write text to an existing file, HyperCard merely appends the
new text to the old, rather than replacing the existing text.
The write command causes HyperCard to copy the specified text into the
specified disk file.
Here is a script that should DUPLICATE your problem. First, create a
file called "test 1" with the text "ABCD" in it:
on mouseUp
open file "test 1"
write "ABCD" to file "test 1"
close file "test 1"
end mouseUp
The following scripts reads the text "ABCD" from the file "test 1" and
then appends "EFGH" to the file demonstrating your problem:
on mouseUp
open file "test 1"
read from file "test 1" for 4
write "EFGH" to file "test 1"
close file "test 1"
end mouseUp
Here is a script that should SOLVE your problem. This script reads the
text "ABCD" from the file "test 1" and then REPLACES the text in "test 1"
with the text "EFGH":
on mouseUp
open file "test 1"
read from file "test 1" for 4
close file "test 1"
open file "test 1"
write "EFGH" to file "test 1"
close file "test 1"
end mouseUp
The key to replacing text instead of appending text is closing the file
"test 1" and then reopening the file "test 1". If you open "test 1" and
read for 2 characters, then write "EFGH" to "test 1" you will get "ABEFGH"
in your file. In other words, you will append text starting where the read
or write statement stopped.