CP/M File Control Block

The File Control Block is a 36-byte data structure (33 bytes in CP/M 1). It is laid out as follows:


DR F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 T1 T2 T3 EX S1 S2 RC  .FILENAMETYP...

AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL  ...............

CR R0 R1 R2                                      ....

The bytes in it have the following meanings:




FCB+00h DR - Drive. 0 for default, 1-16 for A-P. 

FCB+01h Fn - Filename, 7-bit ASCII. The top bits of the filename bytes

             (usually referred to as F1' to F8') have the following

             meanings:

               F1'-F4' - User-defined attributes. Any program can use

                        them in any way it likes. The filename in the

                        disc directory has the corresponding bits set.

               F5'-F8' - Interface attributes. They modify the 

                        behaviour of various BDOS functions or 

                        indicate error conditions. In the directory

                        these bits are always zero.

FCB+09h Tn - Filetype, 7-bit ASCII. T1' to T3' have the following

             meanings:

               T1' - Read-Only. 

               T2' - System (hidden). System files in user 0 can be

                    opened from other user areas.

               T3' - Archive. Set if the file has not been changed

                    since it was last copied.

FCB+0Ch EX - Set this to 0 when opening a file and then leave it to

            CP/M. You can rewind a file by setting EX, RC and CR to 0.

FCB+0Dh S1 - Reserved.   

FCB+0Eh S2 - Reserved.

FCB+0Fh RC - Set this to 0 when opening a file and then leave it to

            CP/M.

FCB+10h AL - Image of the second half of the directory entry,

            containing the file's allocation (which disc blocks it

            owns).

FCB+20h CR - Current record within extent. It is usually best to set 

            this to 0 immediately after a file has been opened and 

            then ignore it.

FCB+21h Rn - Random access record number (not CP/M 1). A 16-bit 

            value in CP/M 2 (with R2 used for overflow); an 18-bit

            value in CP/M 3.