### Introduction to the File System

The VisualAge C++ File System Framework gives you access to all file system objects such as volumes, directories, files, file contents and operations. Its interface provides classes that represent physical file system objects and allows you to manipulate those objects.

Some typical tasks you can perform using the File System Framework are:

- Creating, moving, copying, deleting, locating, and otherwise manipulating file system objects
- Manipulating and parsing pathnames in a portable manner
- Accessing the attributes of files, directories, and volumes
- Accessing the contents of volume, directory, and file objects
- Iterating through directories and volumes

File System Framework functions are organized into six broad categories of classes:

- File System Entities
- Pathnames and Pathname Parsers
- Data Accessors
- File System Iterators
- File System Movers and Copiers
- File System Exceptions

Overview of File System Entities
Overview of Pathnames and Pathname Parsers
Data Accessors
File System Iterators
IFileSystemEntity's moveTo and copyTo Functions
Mover and Copier Classes
File System Exceptions

Instantiating a File System Entity from a Host-Specific Pathname
Instantiating a File System Entity from a Portable Pathname
Creating and Replacing Files and Directories
Creating a File or Directory and Intermediate Subdirectories
Deleting a File or Directory
Deleting all Directory Contents
Setting Stream Access Permissions
Accessing File Contents Using C++ Streams
Accessing File Contents Using Open Class Streams
Looking Up Entities with the IDirectory::lookUp Function
Looking Up Entities with a Directory Iterator
Copying a File or Directory Using IFileSystemEntity::copyTo
Moving a File or Directory Using IFileSystemEntity::moveTo
Accessing the Attributes of Files, Directories and Volumes
Instantiating Host-Specific Pathnames and Pathname Parsers
Instantiating a Portable Pathname from a Host-Specific Pathname
Appending and Retrieving Pathname Components