21.1.1.2.1 File Streams

Some streams, called file streams, provide access to files. An object of class file-stream is used to represent a file stream.

The basic operation for opening a file is open, which typically returns a file stream (see its dictionary entry for details). The basic operation for closing a stream is close. The macro with-open-file is useful to express the common idiom of opening a file for the duration of a given body of code, and assuring that the resulting stream is closed upon exit from that body.