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. The tower of a personal computer (specifically a Power Mac G5). ... A bit (abbreviated b) is the most basic information unit used in computing and information theory. ... See Filing system for this term as it is used in libraries and offices In computing, a file system is a method for storing and organizing computer files and the data they contain to make it easy to find and access them. ... Disk storage is a group of data storage mechanisms for computers; data is transferred to planar surfaces or disks for temporary or permanent storage. ... Magnetic tape is an information storage medium consisting of a magnetisable coating on a thin plastic strip. ...

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. In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system software responsible for the direct control and management of hardware and basic system operations. ...

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. Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... A file format is a particular way to encode information for storage in a computer file. ...

Some operating systems allow the contents of a file to be segmented into fixed and variable length records. For example OpenVMS allows any arbitrary set of characters to be defined as the terminators to variable length record within a file. Others like Microsoft Windows, have only one specialised subclass of file, called a text file, where a sequence of characters separate the data into lines of text (a specialised variable length record). Some operating systems like UNIX do not have ability to handle file records at the operating system level, instead it is done at the application level. See record-oriented filesystem. In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system software responsible for the direct control and management of hardware and basic system operations. ... OpenVMS V7. ... Microsoft Windows is a range of commercial operating environments for personal computers. ... Computer files can be divided into two broad categories: binary and text. ... For alternate meanings, see character. ... UNIX® (or Unix) is a portable, multi-task and multi-user computer operating system originally developed by a group of AT&T Bell Labs employees including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... This article needs to be wikified. ...

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 Linux). In computing, a process is, roughly speaking, a task being run by a computer, often simultaneously with many other tasks. ... A device driver, often called a driver for short, is a computer program that enables another program (typically, an operating system) to interact with a hardware device. ... In telecommunication and computer communication, the term network interface has the following meanings: The point of interconnection between a user terminal and a private or public network. ... UNIX® (or Unix) is a portable, multi-task and multi-user computer operating system originally developed by a group of AT&T Bell Labs employees including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... Tux, a lovable and cuddly penguin sitting down after having gorged itself on herring, is the official Linux mascot. ...

Files are often organized hierarchically by the operating system, placing them in directories. A hierarchy (in Greek hieros = sacred, arkho = rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things. ... This article is about the computing term. ...

Notes

1. A collection of bytes in RAM isn't usually known as a file, unless it's stored in a RAM disk.
2. Historically it was common for files to be defined as sequences of records. However this is now uncommon except on certain mainframe operating systems. On most systems, the application or a library creates the "record" abstraction from the byte stream according to the file format.
3. Some operating systems use a three letter extension to differentiate files . For example executable files in MS DOS have an extension ".EXE " , for text files it is " .TXT " . 'Unix like' operating systems do not have any fixed extension for files, although .tar .gz .sh and others are standard (see also Magic number (programming)) .

Different types of RAM. From top to bottom: DIP, SIPP, SIMM 30 pin, SIMM 72 pin, DIMM, RIMM RAM redirects here. ... A 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. ... Mainframes (often colloquially referred to as big iron) are large and expensive computers used mainly by government institutions and large companies for legacy applications, typically bulk data processing (such as censuses, industry/consumer statistics, ERP, and bank transaction processing). ... In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system software responsible for the direct control and management of hardware and basic system operations. ... Microsofts disk operating system, MS-DOS, was Microsofts implementation of DOS, which was the first popular operating system for the IBM PC, and until recently, was widely used on the PC compatible platform. ... In computer programming, a magic number is a special constant used for some specific purpose. ...

See also

• File manager
• File copying

A file manager is a software tool that provides a user interface to work with computer files. ... File copying is creation of a new file which has the same content as an existing file. ...

External links

• Filename.info - Information about Microsoft Windows filenames (http://www.filename.info/)