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Part III. The Standard Libraries Chapter 21. The I/O Library

21 – The I/O Library

The I/O library offers two different models for file manipulation. The simple model assumes a current input and a current output files, and its I/O operations operate on those files. The complete model uses explicit file handles and it adopts an object-oriented style that defines all operations as methods on file handles.

The simple model is convenient for simple things; we have been using it all along the book until now. But it is not enough for more advanced file manipulation, such as reading from several files simultaneously. For those manipulations, the complete model is more convenient.

The I/O library puts all its functions into the io table.