5.4.2 Inherited Files

The child program inherits all file handles belonging to the parent program except those opened with the no-inheritance option. These handles identify standard files, disk files, or devices that the parent program has opened. Child-program operations that affect these handles (such as reading or writing to the file) also affect the parent program's file pointers associated with the handles.

So that the parent program can continue to use inherited files, they remain open after the child program terminates. The status of these files—for example, information about file-pointer locations—remains exactly as the child program left it.