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Introduction to file handling in C#

Learn: What is file handling in C#.Net? What are streams, type of streams, basic file operations and classes are used for file operations.

What is a file in C#?

File is a collection of data, which has unique name and stores data in specific path. When we open a file for reading or writing, it is known as stream.

What is Stream?

Stream is a sequence of bytes. There are two types of streams are used:

1. Input stream
   This stream is used to read data from file, which is known as read operation.
2. Output stream
   This stream is used to write data into file, which is known as write operation.

Namespace to use for file operations

In C#, System.IO namespace is used to perform file operations.

There are following file operations used in C#:

1. Creation of file
2. Deletion of file
3. Reading data from file
4. Writing data into file
5. Appending data into file
6. Opening a file
7. Closing a file etc...

There are following classes are used file handling in C#:

1. BinaryReader
2. BinaryWriter
3. BufferedStream
4. Directory
5. DirectoryInfo
6. DriveInfo
7. File
8. FileInfo
9. FileStream
10. MemoryStream
11. Path
12. StreamReader
13. StreamWriter
14. StringReader
15. StringWriter

There are following file modes used in C#:

1. Open
2. Create
3. CreateNew
4. OpenOrCreate
5. Append
6. Truncate