fully evaluated, infinite iterators will never
  return (or will fill up the disk and error!).</p>
<p><b>See also:</b> <a href="io.html#put_chars-2">io:put_chars/2</a>.</p>

<h3 class="function"><a name="read-2">read/2</a></h3>
<div class="spec">
<p><tt>read(IODevice, Number) -&gt; Iterator</tt>
<ul class="definitions"><li><tt>IODevice = <a href="/home/john/Local/kernel/doc/file.html#type-io_device">file:io_device()</a></tt></li><li><tt>Number = non_neg_integer()</tt></li><li><tt>Iterator = <a href="llists.