11.1 Summary

This is a subroutine package for reading and writing fixed-length character string data and binary data. It is intended for use by file transfer software such as ftp, and attempts to unify file manipulation operations and to remove any system-dependencies. Therefore, although the file itself is not interchangeable, the contents of the file will be retained by some appropriate transfer procedure, and so it will able characters to be handled on the character level and binaries on binary level.



This package is designed based on the following specifications. 

1.
Handles the input/output of fixed-length files.
2.
Input and output will not be performed simultaneously.
3.
Output will be performed sequentially.
4.
For input, random access by specification of the record number will be allowed.
5.
The user may specify whether or not to make line-feed control at the end of the line.
6.
When a file is opened for writing, the existing file will be deleted.



These specifications arose from the following requirements.



When using the subroutines in this package, keep the following in mind.



The condition code that appears in all of the explanations of the subroutines in this package will return an integral value of 1 for normal termination and 0 in all other cases.