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Important: The information in this document is obsolete and should not be used for new development.

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Inside Macintosh: Files /
Chapter 2 - File Manager / File Manager Reference
Data Structures

File System Specification Record

The system software recognizes the file system specification record, which provides a simple, standard way to specify the name and location of a file or directory. The file system specification record is defined by the FSSpec data type.

TYPE FSSpec =              {file system specification}
RECORD
   vRefNum:    Integer;    {volume reference number}
   parID:      LongInt;    {directory ID of parent directory}
   name:       Str63;      {filename or directory name}
END;
Field Description
vRefNum
The volume reference number of the volume containing the specified file or directory.
parID
The directory ID of the directory containing the specified file or directory.
name
The name of the specified file or directory.
The FSSpec record can describe only a file or a directory, not a volume. A volume can
be identified by its root directory, although the system software never uses an FSSpec record to describe a volume. (The directory ID of the root's parent directory is fsRtParID, defined in the interface files. The name of the root directory is the same
as the name of the volume.)

If you need to convert a file specification into an FSSpec record, call the function FSMakeFSSpec. Do not fill in the fields of an FSSpec record yourself.

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© Apple Computer, Inc.
2 JUL 1996