Guardian Programmer's Guide

Table Of Contents
Using the File System
Guardian Programmer’s Guide 421922-014
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Temporary Disk-File Names
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Temporary Disk-File Names
Sometimes a file is required only as temporary work space for a program and is no
longer useful once the process has terminated. Such a file is known as a temporary
file. A temporary file must be created programmatically, and it exists only until the file
is closed. The name of such a file has the following syntax:
The following are valid temporary file names:
\TRANSAC.$ACCOUNT.#1234567
$ACCOUNT.#1234567
#1234567
Temporary files are created programmatically by calling the FILE_CREATE_ procedure
and, usually, specifying the volume. If the volume or node name is not specified, then
the default values provided by the =_DEFAULTS DEFINE are again used.
The temp-file-id is not specified by the program. It is returned automatically by
the operating system. It always begins with a pound sign (#), followed by four to seven
digits.
Device-File Names
File names also provide access to devices such as terminals, printers, magnetic tape
drives, and data communications lines. A device can be accessed either by name or
by logical device number.
Device names and logical device numbers are assigned either at operating-system
generation time—see the System Generation Manual —or dynamically using the
Configuration Utility Program (COUP) on D-series release systems or the Subsystem
Control Facility (SCF) on G-series release systems. See the Dynamic System
Configuration (DSC) Manual for more information about COUP and see the SCF
reference manuals for more information about SCF. In either case, the assignment of
device names and device numbers is the responsibility of system management, not the
application programmer.
Device-file names have the following syntax:
Temporary disk-file name:
[node-name.][volume-name.]#temp-file-id
Device-file name:
[node-name.] { device-name[.qualifier] }
{ ldev-number }