An application views a file as a logical sequence of data; OS/2 file systems manage the physical locations of that data on the storage device for the application. The file systems also manage file I/O operations and control the format of the stored information.
Applications use the OS/2 file system functions to open, read, write, and close disk files. File system functions also enable an application to use and maintain the disk that contains the files-the volumes, the directories, and the files on the disks of the computer. Applications also use OS/2 file system functions to perform I/O operations to pipes and to peripheral devices connected to the computer, like the printer.
The following topics are related to the information in this chapter: