Best way to read files

[aarrowh]

I'm looking to make a text/2d RPG and I'm wondering what would be the best way to read/write text files for maps/characters/etc.

Would it be better to use actual text files, or should I work with binary files(No clue how to differentiate on what I read with binary though)

I've just started working with files and I'm hoping starting to at least try and work on something will help me grasp it all a bit better

Also, when going through the tutorial on this site(and a book I have) I'm having trouble finding how to look for certain words/things in a file. Is that possible or am I going to have to stay very uniformed in how my text files are made?