A file is collection of data stored in a disk with specific name and a directory path. when a file is opened for reading or writing , its became a stream.
Now what is stream?
the stream is basically the sequence of bytes passing through the communication path.
there are two main stream : the input stream and the output stream.
the input stream is used for reading data from a file and the output stream is used for write into the file.
C# I/O Classes
The system.IO namespace have various classes that are used for performing various operation with file , like creating and deleting file , reading from and writing into a file , closing a file etc.
Now what is stream?
the stream is basically the sequence of bytes passing through the communication path.
there are two main stream : the input stream and the output stream.
the input stream is used for reading data from a file and the output stream is used for write into the file.
C# I/O Classes
The system.IO namespace have various classes that are used for performing various operation with file , like creating and deleting file , reading from and writing into a file , closing a file etc.
some commonly used non-abstract classes in the system.IO namespace:
- Binary Reader >> reads primitive data from a binary stream.
- Binary Writer >> writes primitive data in binary format.
- Buffered Stream >> a temporary storage for a stream of bytes.
- Directory >> helps in manipulating a directory structure.
- Directory Info >> used for performing operation on directories.
- Drive Info >> provides information for the drive.
- File >> helps in manipulating files.
- File Info >> used for performing operation on files.
- File Stream >> used to read from and write to any location in a file.
- Memory Stream >> used for random access to streamed data stored in memory.
- path >> performs operation on paths information.
- Stream Reader >> used for reading character from a byte stream.
- Stream Writer >> is used to write character to a stream.
- String Reader >> is used for reading from a string buffer.
the FileStream class :
the FileStream class in the system.IO namespace helps in reading from , writing to and closing files. this class derived from the abstract class Stream.
you need to create a FileStream object to create a new file or open an existing file.
syntax:
FileStream <object name> = new FileStream( <file name>, <FileMode Enumerator>, < FileAccess Enumerator>, <FileShare Enumerator>);
for example :
FileStream fs = new FileStream ("sample.txt", FileMode.Open, FileAccess. Read, FileShare. Read);
- FileMode >> the FileMode Enumerator define various method for opening files. the member of the file mode enumerator are :
Create >> it is creates a new file.
CreateNew >> create a new file.
Open >> it open an existing file.
OpenOrCreate >> open a file if exist , otherwise its should create a new file.
Truncate >> it is open a file and Truncates its size to zero bytes.
- FileAccess >> FileAccess enumerator have member : Read , ReadWrite , Write.
- FileShare >> FileShare enumerator have the following members:
Inheritable >> it allow a file handle to pass inheritance to the child process.
None >> it declines sharing of the current file.
Read >> it allow opening the file for reading.
ReadWrite >> it allow opening a file for reading and writing.
Write >> it allow opening the file for writing.
example:
the following program demonstrates use of the FileStream class :
using system;
using system.IO;
namespace FileToApplication
{
class program
{
static void Main(String [] args)
{
FileStream fs = new FileStream ( "test.dat", FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.ReadWrite);
for ( int i = 1; i<=20; i++)
{
fs.WriteByte ((byte)i);
}
fs.Position = 0;
for ( int i = 0; i<=20; i++)
{
Console.Write( fs.ReadByte() + "");
}
fs.Close();
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
}
when the above code is compiled and executed , its produces the following result :
