FileStream Constructor (String, FileMode)

The .NET Framework does not support direct access to physical disks through paths that are device names, such as "\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0 ".

The path parameter can be a file name, including a file on a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) share.

The constructor is given read/write access to the file, and it is opened sharing Read access (that is, requests to open the file for writing by this or another process will fail until the FileStream object has been closed, but read attempts will succeed). The buffer size is set to the default size of 4096 bytes (4 KB).

Note
path is not required to be a file stored on disk; it can be any part of a system that supports access through streams. For example, depending on the system, this class can access a physical device.

CanSeek is true for all FileStream objects that encapsulate files. If path indicates a device that does not support seeking, the CanSeek property on the resulting FileStream is false. For additional information, see CanSeek.

FileShare.Read is the default for those FileStream constructors without a FileShare parameter.

For constructors without a FileAccess parameter, if the mode parameter is set to Append, Write is the default access. Otherwise, the access is set to ReadWrite.

Caution
When you compile a set of characters with a particular cultural setting and retrieve those same characters with a different cultural setting, the characters might not be interpretable, and could cause an exception to be thrown.

For a list of common file and directory operations, see Common I/O Tasks.

The following code example shows how to write data to a file, byte by byte, and then verify that the data was written correctly.

using System;
using System.IO;

class FStream
{
    static void Main()
    {
        const string fileName = "Test#@@#.dat";

        // Create random data to write to the file. 
        byte[] dataArray = new byte[100000];
        new Random().NextBytes(dataArray);

        using(FileStream  
            fileStream = new FileStream(fileName, FileMode.Create))
        {
            // Write the data to the file, byte by byte. 
            for(int i = 0; i < dataArray.Length; i++)
            {
                fileStream.WriteByte(dataArray[i]);
            }

            // Set the stream position to the beginning of the file.
            fileStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);

            // Read and verify the data. 
            for(int i = 0; i < fileStream.Length; i++)
            {
                if(dataArray[i] != fileStream.ReadByte())
                {
                    Console.WriteLine("Error writing data.");
                    return;
                }
            }
            Console.WriteLine("The data was written to {0} " +
                "and verified.", fileStream.Name);
        }
    }
}

.NET Framework

.NET Framework Client Profile

• FileIOPermission 

  for reading, writing, and appending to files. Associated enumerations: FileIOPermissionAccess.Read, FileIOPermissionAccess.Write, and FileIOPermissionAccess.Append.

Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core Role not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core Role supported with SP1 or later; Itanium not supported)

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Reference

Other Resources