READONLY Prohibits WRITE access to the file. Enables users with READ access to access the file. READONLY is similar to specifying ACTION='READ', but READONLY prevents deletion of the file if it is closed with STATUS='DELETE' in effect. Default file access privileges are READWRITE, which can cause run-time I/O errors if the file protection does not permit write access. The READONLY specifier has no effect on the protection specified for a file. Its main purpose is to allow a file to be read simultaneously by two or more programs. For example, use READONLY if you wish to open a file so you can read it, but you also want others to be able to read the same file while you have it open.