Binary files in C++

I'm curious as to whether there is a way of saving binary files using C++ rather than text files. I'm thinking of something along the line of:
outbinfile << unique_variable;
and then later unique_variable >> inbinfile;
This way when you look at the file using a text editor it is just garbage. I know Java has this feature, is it possible with C++? I don't want to get into serialization in VC++. Any help or sample code would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

i would open a file in binary mode using the ios::binary flag when opening it.

Thanks, usually, when reading from a text file I use getline... what would you suggest for reading and skipping around inside a binary file?

i don't use ifstream to a great extent so i can only suggest what looks effective.

but as i see it i would probably use read() and seekg() the majority of the time, as in C style File I/O.