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A file in a computer system is a stream (sequence) of bits stored as a single unit, typically in a file system on disk or magnetic tape.While a file is usually presented as a single stream, it most often is stored as multiple fragments of data at different places on a disk (or even multiple disks). One of the services operating systems usually perform for applications is that organization of files in a file system.
Files are created by software and usually conform to a particular file format. They are almost always assigned file names by the file system on which they are stored, so that they can be referred to at a later time.
An important subclass of file is the text file. A text file is a sequence of characters often organized into lines separated by line breaks. The term " binary file" usually refers to any file other than a text file.
A special file is a file system object which is accessed as though it was a file, but the sequence of bits is supplied or consumed by another process (or by the operating system itself) such as a device driver or network interface. Indeed, the philosophy that "everything is a file" is one of the best known design decisions in Unix and Unix-like operating systems (such as LinuxThis article is about Linux-based operating systems, GNU/Linux, and related topics. See Linux kernel for the kernel itself. See Linux (washing powder) for the Swiss brand of washing powder. Tux, a plump penguin, is the official Linux mascot Linux is the n).
Files are often organized hierchicallyA hierarchy (Greek hieros sacred, arkho rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things. Different fields use the word in slightly different ways, but a particular definition (below) captures the core of almost all uses. Originally, "hierarchy" meant " by the operating system, placing them in directoriesThis article is about the computing term. The Directory was also a government in revolutionary France from 1795 to 1799. In computing, a directory catalog or folder is an entity in a file system which contains a group of files and other directories. A typ.
1 Notes
- A collection of bytes in RAM isn't usually known as a file, unless it's stored in a RAM diskA RAM disk or RAMdrive is a segment of active computer memory, RAM, which is being used as secondary storage, typically a role for a disk drive. Access times are greatly improved, because RAM disks are approximately a thousand times faster than hard disk.
- Historically it was common for files to be defined as sequences of records. However this is now uncommon except on certain mainframeMainframes (often colloquially referred to as "big iron") are large, powerful, and expensive computers used mainly by government institutions and large companies for bulk data processing (such as censuses, industry/consumer statistics, ERP, and bank trans operating systems. On most systems, the application or a library creates the "record" abstraction from the byte stream according to the file format.
2 See also
- File managerA file manager is a software tool that provides an user interface to work with computer files. The most common operations on files are Create, Open, Edit, View, Print, Play, Rename, Move, Copy, Delete, Attributes, Properties, Search/Find. Typically files
- File copyingFile copying is creation of a new file which has the same content as an existing file. All operating systems include file copying in the user interface, like cp in Unix and copy in MS-DOS; operating systems with GUIs usually provide copy-and-paste or drag
3 External link
Computer data
File
