Resource Fork
Dan Tobias (Talk | contribs) |
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| + | Resource forks are usually invisible to the end-user on a Mac platform, but when Mac files are placed in a medium where users of other operating systems can see them (e.g., Windows), they are often visible as an additional subdirectory with an underscore (_) as its first character (_MACOSX for OS X files, or other names for earlier MacOS versions) containing subdirectories and files that parallel the structure of the files they are associated with. | ||
Revision as of 05:27, 29 November 2012
Pre-OS X and some OS X Macintosh files have two forks: the data fork, and the resource fork, which is subdivided into resources. Many file formats use the resource fork to store data.
A resource has a four-character type code, an ID, and data. The type code is generally unique to the type of data stored within, but this may not be the case with application-specific formats.
The format is described in detail on pages 1-121 to 1-125 of Inside Macintosh: More Macintosh Toolbox.
Resource forks are usually invisible to the end-user on a Mac platform, but when Mac files are placed in a medium where users of other operating systems can see them (e.g., Windows), they are often visible as an additional subdirectory with an underscore (_) as its first character (_MACOSX for OS X files, or other names for earlier MacOS versions) containing subdirectories and files that parallel the structure of the files they are associated with.
