Using a File Mapping for IPC

File mapping enables a process to treat the contents of a file as if they were a block of memory in the process's address space. The process can use simple pointer operations to examine and modify the contents of the file. When two or more processes access the same file mapping, each process receives a pointer to memory in its own address space that it can use to read or modify the contents of the file. The processes must use a synchronization object, such as a semaphore, to prevent data corruption in a multitasking environment.

You can use a special case of file mapping to provide named shared memory between processes. If you specify the system swapping file when creating a file-mapping object, the file-mapping object is treated as a shared memory block. Other processes can access the same block of memory by opening the same file-mapping object.

File mapping is quite efficient and also provides operating-system–supported security attributes that can help prevent unauthorized data corruption. File mapping can be used only between processes on a local computer; it cannot be used over a network.

File mapping is an efficient way for two or more processes on the same computer to share data, but you must provide synchronization between the processes. For more information, see File Mapping and Synchronization.