What is a stream?

In the discussion of files, we learned that a file is a sequence of characters stored on a disk.

The Unix operating system defines a slightly more general concept:

• A stream is any sequence of characters.
• An input stream can come from a file, from a keyboard, from a process, or from any other device (such as a scanner or a network).
• An output stream can be destined for a file, for a display, or to any other device (such as a printer or a network).

John Shipman, john@nmt.edu Last updated: 1995/12/04 19:39:34 UT URL: http://www.nmt.edu/tcc/help/unix/stream.html