Editing Resource fork (section)

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A '''resource fork''' is a [[fork (file system)|fork]] of a [[computer file|file]] on [[Apple Inc.|Apple]]'s [[classic Mac OS]] [[operating system]] that is used to store structured data. It is one of the two forks of a file, along with the '''data fork''', which stores data that the operating system treats as unstructured. Resource fork capability has been carried over to the modern [[macOS]] for compatibility.

A resource fork stores information in a specific form, containing details such as icon bitmaps, the shapes of windows, definitions of menus and their contents, and application code ([[machine code]]). For example, a word processing file might store its text in the data fork, while storing any embedded images in the same file's resource fork. The resource fork is used mostly by [[executable]]s, but any file can have a resource fork.

In a 1986 technical note, Apple strongly recommended that developers do not put general data into the resource fork of a file. According to Apple, there are parts of the system software that rely on resource forks having only valid Resource Manager information in them.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/technotes/fl/fl_19.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/DTS10002445 | title=Technical Note FL19: Data in Resource Fork: Don't do It |date=Mar 1, 1986 |website=Apple Developer |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816011252/https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/technotes/fl/fl_19.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/DTS10002445 |archive-date= Aug 16, 2023 }}</ref>

The resource fork was conceived and implemented by Apple programmer [[Bruce Horn]].