Assembly Language Help (alang.hlp) (Table of Contents; Topic list)
Important Notice
The pages on this site contain documentation for very old MS-DOS software, purely for historical purposes. If you're looking for up-to-date documentation, particularly for programming, you should not rely on the information found here, as it will be woefully out of date.
Int 21h Function 3Dh
 ◄Detail► ◄Example►                          ◄Up► ◄Contents► ◄Index► ◄Back►
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
  Interrupt:   21h     Function:   3Dh
 
  Title:       Open File
 
  See also:    Close File, Extended Open File, Create File, @OpenFile
 
  Description:
 
     Given an ASCIIZ path name, the function opens the specified file
     in the designated or default directory on the designated or
     default disk drive. A handle is returned that can be used by the
     program for subsequent access to the file.
 
     Input                                   Output
 
     AH = 3Dh                                If function successful
     AL = Access mode                          Carry flag: clear
                                               AX = Handle
          Bits    Significance
                                             If function unsuccessful
          0-2     Access mode                  Carry flag: set
                  000 = read access            AX = Error code (02h, 03h,
                  001 = write access                04h, 05h, or 0Ch)
                  010 = read/write access      See: ◄Error codes►
          3       Reserved (0)
          4-6     Sharing mode
                  [Version 3.0+]
                  000 = compatibility mode
                  001 = deny all
                  010 = deny write
                  011 = deny read
                  100 = deny none
          7       Inheritance flag
                  [Version 3.0+]
 
     0 = Child process inherits handle
     1 = Child does not inherit handle
     DS:DX = segment:offset of ASCIIZ
             path name
                                    -♦-