From: Logan Capaldo <logancapaldo@...>
Date: 2006-06-06T22:58:25+09:00
Subject: Re: leaving files open


On Jun 6, 2006, at 9:45 AM, Dirk Meijer wrote:

> hello list!
> i've learnt to open files like this:
>
> File.open("foo", "w") do |file|
>  file.write "foo"
> end
>
> because everyone always says it's _dangerous_ to leave files open...
> just, wondering, what could really happen?
>
> suppose i write a program that write to a file, infinitely, i'll  
> want to
> shut this program off after a while, the file will not properly  
> close...
> what could actually happen?
>
> greetings, Dirk.

The major issue with not closing files on *Nix is that you *could*  
run out of file descriptors for that process. The OS will close the  
file at program termination, but you can and should use hooks like  
at_exit{} and END {} to make sure (If you need to keep one file open  
indefinitely). STDOUT for instance is a file, you don't see most  
people closing that.