Computer file

A computer file is a block of subjective information, or resource for storing information, that is available to a computer program and is usually based on some kind of durable storage. A file is durable in the intelligence that it remains available for programs to use after the current program has finished. Computer files can be considered as the up to date counterpart of paper documents which traditionally were kept in offices and libraries files.

In most computer files are stored on various type of data storage device, there is a hard disk, from which most operating systems run and on which most store their files. Hard discs are the most ever-present form of non-volatile storage at the start of the 21st century. Where files have only temporary information, they may be stored in RAM. The way a computer organizes, names stores and manipulates files is worldwide referred to as its file system. Nearly all computers have at least one file system.