The File(S) domain provides a basic interface to read and write values of type S in files.
Before working with a file, it must be made accessible to Axiom with the openopenFile operation.
The openopenFile function arguments are a FileName and a String specifying the mode. If a full pathname is not specified, the current default directory is assumed. The mode must be one of ``input'' or ``output''. If it is not specified, ``input'' is assumed. Once the file has been opened, you can read or write data.
The operations readreadFile and writewriteFile are provided.
You can change from writing to reading (or vice versa) by reopening a file.
The readreadFile operation can cause an error if one tries to read more data than is in the file. To guard against this possibility the readIfCanreadIfCanFile operation should be used.
You can find the current mode of the file, and the file's name.
When you are finished with a file, you should close it.
A limitation of the underlying LISP system is that not all values can be represented in a file. In particular, delayed values containing compiled functions cannot be saved.
For more information on related topics, see TextFileXmpPage , KeyedAccessFileXmpPage , LibraryXmpPage , and FileNameXmpPage .