You can query existing path items or update them using simple GETXXX() and PUTXXX() methods.

All path names allow their metadata to be read and modified. On completion of the call, the client can request that specific properties be fetched through prop_flags.

File path names allow their data to be read and modified. On completion of the call, the client can request a new BLOB locator through the prop_data bit masks in prop_flags; these may be used to continue data access.

Files can also be read and written without using BLOB locators, by explicitly specifying logical offsets, buffer amounts, and a suitably sized buffer.

Update accesses must specify the forUpdate flag. Access to link path names may be implicitly and internally dereferenced by stores, subject to feature support, if the deref flag is specified. Oracle does not recommend this practice because symbolic links are not guaranteed to resolve.

The read method GETPATH() where forUpdate is false accepts a valid asof timestamp parameter that can be used by stores to implement flashback-style queries.

Mutating versions of the GETPATH() and the PUTPATH() methods do not support asof modes of operation.

The DBFS Content API does not have an explicit COPY() operation because a copy is easily implemented as a combination of a GETPATH() followed by a CREATEXXX() with appropriate data or metadata transfer across the calls. This allows copies across stores, while an internalized copy operation cannot provide this facility.