This section describes the Common Lisp interface to file systems. The model used by this interface assumes that files are named by filenames, that a filename can be represented by a pathname object, and that given a pathname a stream can be constructed that connects to a file whose filename it represents.
For information about opening and closing files, and manipulating their contents, see Section 21 (Streams).
The next figure lists some operators that are applicable to files and directories.
compile-file file-length open delete-file file-position probe-file directory file-write-date rename-file file-author load with-open-file
Figure 20-1. File and Directory Operations
20.1.1 Coercion of Streams to Pathnames
20.1.2 File Operations on Open and Closed Streams