A file association associates a file with an application capable of opening that file. More commonly, a file association associates a class of files (as determined by their filename extension, such as .txt) with a corresponding application such as a text editor.
Associations and verbs
A single file extension may have several associations for performing various actions, also known as verbs. Some of the common verbs are:
- open to open a file
- to open a file for editing
- print to print a file
A picture, for example, may be associated with these verbs so that open opens the picture in an image viewer, opens up an image editing program and print sends the picture to a printer.
Implementations
Most operating systems support file associations in some form or the other. For example, opening a file from a file manager usually invokes the open verb in order to open the file with its associated application. Additional actions such as print are usually accessed via a right-click context menu. A mechanism for modifying associations is also usually present. (such as the Open With option in Microsoft Windows)
- The Microsoft Windows series of operating systems, beginning with Windows 95 supports file extension-based associations. Associations are stored in registry as sets of verbs for each file extension. Older versions supported open associations stored in WIN.INI.
- Linux-based GUIs, such as KDE and GNOME, support MIME type-based associations. For example, the MIME type
text/plain might be associated with a text editor.
- Classic Mac OS used type codes and creator codes to associate each file with its corresponding application, regardless of file extension. The more recent Mac OS X also supports file extension-based associations.
See also
Further reading
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