file descriptor -- Definition

A file descriptor is an integer that indexes an area in COHERENT's internal
list  of  file  descriptors.   COHERENT  system  calls,  including  open(),
close(), and lseek(), use it to describe a file.

Please note  that a file  descriptor is not  the same as  a FILE structure,
which is used by the STDIO routines fopen(), fclose(), or fread().

See Also

file,
FILE,
Programming COHERENT

© 2012 by Stephen A. Ness