.help bfchan Sep86 imfort.bfio
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NAME
bfchan -- return the kernel i/o channel of an open BFIO file
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SYNOPSIS
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integer function bfchan (fd)

integer		fd		#I BFIO file descriptor of open file
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DESCRIPTION
The \fIbfchan\fR procedure is used to get the i/o channel assigned to the
file at open time by the binary file driver in the IRAF kernel.
This may be used as input to the \fIzfiobf\fR binary file driver primitives
if the lowest possible level of binary file i/o is desired (short of talking
directly to the host system).  The \fIzfiobf\fR procedures provide a direct
(unbuffered), block oriented, asynchronous binary file i/o interface.
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RETURN VALUE
The i/o channel assigned to the file by the \fIzfiobf\fR binary file driver
at open time is returned as the function value.
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SEE ALSO
The manual pages for the binary file driver.
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