A table engine which provides a table-like interface to SELECT from and INSERT into files, similar to the [s3](/docs/en/sql-reference/table-functions/url.md) table function. Use `file()` when working with local files, and `s3()` when working with buckets in object storage such as S3, GCS, or MinIO.
-`path` — The relative path to the file from [user_files_path](/docs/en/operations/server-configuration-parameters/settings.md#server_configuration_parameters-user_files_path). Supports in read-only mode the following [globs](#globs_in_path): `*`, `?`, `{abc,def}` (with `'abc'` and `'def'` being strings) and `{N..M}` (with `N` and `M` being numbers).
-`path_to_archive` - The relative path to a zip/tar/7z archive. Supports the same globs as `path`.
-`compression` — The existing compression type when used in a `SELECT` query, or the desired compression type when used in an `INSERT` query. Supported compression types are `gz`, `br`, `xz`, `zst`, `lz4`, and `bz2`.
If you specify a `PARTITION BY` expression when inserting data into a table function of type `file()`, then a separate file is created for each partition. Splitting the data into separate files helps to improve performance of read operations.
-`*` — Represents arbitrarily many characters except `/` but including the empty string.
-`?` — Represents an arbitrary single character.
-`{some_string,another_string,yet_another_one}` — Represents any of alternative strings `'some_string', 'another_string', 'yet_another_one'`. The strings may contain `/`.
-`{N..M}` — Represents any number `>= N` and `<= M`.
-`**` - Represents all files inside a folder recursively.
- [engine_file_empty_if_not_exists](/docs/en/operations/settings/settings.md#engine-file-emptyif-not-exists) - allows to select empty data from a file that doesn't exist. Disabled by default.
- [engine_file_truncate_on_insert](/docs/en/operations/settings/settings.md#engine-file-truncate-on-insert) - allows to truncate file before insert into it. Disabled by default.
- [engine_file_allow_create_multiple_files](/docs/en/operations/settings/settings.md#engine_file_allow_create_multiple_files) - allows to create a new file on each insert if format has suffix. Disabled by default.
- [engine_file_skip_empty_files](/docs/en/operations/settings/settings.md#engine_file_skip_empty_files) - allows to skip empty files while reading. Disabled by default.
- [storage_file_read_method](/docs/en/operations/settings/settings.md#engine-file-emptyif-not-exists) - method of reading data from storage file, one of: read, pread, mmap (only for clickhouse-local). Default value: `pread` for clickhouse-server, `mmap` for clickhouse-local.