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Files are persistent external sequences of bytes. The interpreter
provides an object type File which provides the corresponding
protocol extensions to ExternalResource:
- newNamed:&mode:
- returns a new File with the given
name as its locator and also a mode option. No attempt to open the
file is automatically made.
- open:
- returns a file handle for a String that
names a path to a file, for read/write access.
- openForInput:
- returns a handle for reading an existing
file of the given name, or Nil if it doesn't exist.
- openForOutput:
- returns a handle for writing (appending)
to a file with the given name.
- openNew:
- returns a handle for writing (appending) to a
new file with the given name. It will create a new file, but if the
file exists, Nil will be returned.
- withOpenNamed:Do:&mode:
- wraps sessionDo: with
the ability to create a new File dynamically for the session
along with a specified mode.
- position
- returns the position within the file in byte units.
- position:
- sets the position within the file to the given
integer number of bytes.
- size
- returns the file size in bytes.
- name
- returns the file's pathname.
- fullName
- will always return a complete pathname whereas
the regular method may not.
- renameTo:
- adjusts the file to have the given name.
- atEnd
- answers whether the file's end has been reached.
- create
- makes a file with the given name, with empty contents.
- exists
- answers whether there is a file with the object's
pathname.
- delete
- deletes the file.
Perhaps the most important utility is to load libraries based on path
names. load: 'filename' will execute a file with the given
path name as Slate source.
File mode objects specify the interaction capabilities requested of
the underlying system for the handle. The modes consist of File Read,
File Write, File ReadWrite, and File CreateWrite.
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Brian Rice
2004-08-24