system. If y ou do not use the DEV= parameter, the :FILE command defaults to de￿ning a disc ￿le. Magnetic tape has no mandatory settings. Y ou can use the REC= parameter of the :FILE command to specify ph ysical characteristics.

The File System HPFOPEN and FOPEN intrinsics automatically set actual device c haracteristics that override any speci￿cations passed from the program or the :FILE command. For example, the actual device c haracteristics of a line prin ter are always NEW, ASCII, UNDEFINED , and WRITE ONLY access.

If a device ￿le characteristic is not speci￿ed through one of the follo wing, then it has a default value:

Use of device characteristics. :FILE command. The way in which a program opens the ￿le.

Figure 6-3 shows an example of specifying device ￿le c haracteristics in a :FILE command. In this ￿gure, the device speci￿ed b y :DEV= for the ￿le named PAYROLL is a line printer; the output priorit y of the spool￿le is 1; and the n umber of copies of output to prin t is 3. The ;FORMS= message is sen t to the console when the ￿le is ready to be output to a device.

Figure 6-3. Specifying Device File Characteristics

The most common medium for storage of a device ￿le is magnetic tape. The File System has several capabilities in handling magnetic tape labels, and the Labeled T ape Facility provides for the handling of m ultireel tape sets. F or detailed information on magnetic tape labels, refer to the MPE/iX Commands R eference Manual Volumes 1 and 2 (32650-90003 and 32650-90364) and Accessing Files Pr ogrammer's Guide (32650-90017).

Disc Files

A disc ￿le is a set of logically related records that reside on disc. A disc ￿le is immediately accessible by the system and is poten tially sharable b y several jobs or sessions at a time. The structure of a disc ￿le is determined b y the physical constraints of the disc, suc h as available space, and user-de￿ned elemen ts of the ￿le. You use the File System to build, open, access, and close a disc ￿le.

A disc ￿le resides on one or more v olumes. A ￿le does not ha ve to reside as a con tiguous piece on one volume, but can be brok en into many extents distributed on di￿eren t volumes.

File System 6-3