A FIFO ("First In, First Out", pronounced "Fy-Foh") is sometimes known as a named pipe . ... In this case, the name is that of a file that multiple processes can open() and read and write to. ... With FIFOs, though, each unrelated process can simply open() the pipe and transfer data through it. ... Once the FIFO has been created, a process can start up and open it for reading or writing using the standard open() system call. ... Lets say you have a pipe with one reader and one writer connected to it. ...