This help book in the Language Reference book covers the following information:

dBASE Plus supports equivalent file commands and functions for all the methods in the File class, which can be organized into the following categories:

·         File utility commands

·         File information functions

·         Low-level file functions

 

·         Functions that provide byte-level access to files, sometimes referred to as low-level file functions

The low-level file functions are maintained for compatibility.  To read and write to files, you should use a File object, which better encapsulates direct file access.  In contrast, the file utility commands and file information functions are easier to use, because they do not require the existence of a File object.