The file access functions provide an API for performing a sequence of operations on a file located on a volume’s file system. The file object pointer returned when a file is opened is passed as the first argument of all file access functions (a characteristic which distinguishes these from the entry access functions), and the file object so referenced maintains information about the actual file (on the volume) and the state of the file access. The file access state includes the file position (the next place data will be read/written), error conditions and (if file buffering is enabled) the state of any file buffer.