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File Management Functions of Operating System

File Management Functions: In this tutorial, we will learn the different function of file management of operating system, working of file management, features of file attributes, different file operations, permissions given to files or file access permissions and file system. By Amit Shukla Last updated : May 06, 2023

Prerequisite

1. Operating System and Its Types
2. File Management in Operating System

Functions of the File Management System

The following are the functions of the file management system:

1. Create and delete the files.
2. Create and delete the directories/folders.
3. Store, access files on a disk.
4. Moving files or directories.
5. File management instructions.
6. Permanent storage mapping.
7. Backup of files.

The file management function of operating system is based on following concepts:

1. File attributes
2. File operations
3. File access permissions
4. File system

1. File Attributes

File attributes are the properties associated with a file that specifies the different information related to the file or data of the file. It specifies the characteristics of a file, such as a type and location that completely describe a file.

The following are some of the key file attributes

1. Name
   It specifies the name or title of the file which is specified by the user at the time of saving of it. The name is used to specify the title detail of the file.
2. File type
   It specifies the type of the file such as a word document or an excel document or any other type. Type of the file is important in recognizing the requirement and function of a file.
3. Location
   It specifies the location of the file where it is stored in memory.
4. Size
   It specifies the size of the files in bytes. It specifies the memory taken by any data file in the disk.
5. Date and Time
   It specifies the date and time when the file was created, last accessed and last modified also.
6. Read Only
   It specifies that the file can be open only for reading purpose.
7. Hidden
   If this attribute of the file is selected, then the file is hidden from the user.
8. Archive
   If this attribute of a file is selected then the backup of the file is created.

2. File Operations

File operations are the various tasks that are performed on files. A user can perform these operations by using the commands provided by the operating system. The following are some of the typical file operations:

1. Creating
   It helps in creating a new file at the specified location in a computer system. The new file could be a word document, an image file or an excel worksheet.
2. Saving
   It helps in saving the content written in a file at some specified location. The file can be saved by giving it a name of our choice.
3. Opening
   It helps in viewing the contents of an existing file.
4. Modifying
   It helps in changing the existing content or adding new to an existing file.
5. Closing
   It helps in closing an already open file.
6. Renaming
   It helps in changing the name of an existing file.
7. Deleting
   It helps in removing a file from the memory of the computer system.

3. File Access Permissions

File access permission help specify the manner in which a user can access a file. These are the access rights that allow us to read, write or execute a file. The following are some of the typical file access permissions:

1. Read
   It allows the user to only read the content of existing.
2. Write
   It allows the user to only modify the content of an existing file.
3. Execute
   It allows the user to run an existing file stored in the computer system.

4. File System

File systems are used by an operating system to store and organize the various files and their information on a hard disk. The following are the two different file system that is used to organize files in a computer system:

1. File Allocation table
   It is a method used to organizing files and folder in the form of a table, which is known as FAT. This type of system is used for disks that are smaller in size and contain simple folder. The different types of FAT systems are FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32.
2. New Technology File System (NTFS)
   This file system is specially designed for large hard disks for performing basic file operations, such as reading, writing, modifying, saving, etc. NTFS overcome drawbacks of the FAT system.

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