Name for a stream that cannot seek backwards

Question

Is there an often-used name for a stream that cannot seek backwards? I was thinking of calling it a "forward stream", but would prefer a more often used term.

*forward-only* is an alternative. – Alex K. Jul 28 '14 at 11:37 — Alex K., Jul 28 '14 at 11:37

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 28 '14 at 11:15

Unidirectional or (slightly less common) One-directional are the generic terms for that. Not only for streams, but also for datasets and other kinds of data readers/writers. Bidirectional is the counterpart.

Of course the name unidirectional only implies a single direction, without specifying that that direction is forward or backward, but I don't think I've ever heard of streams that can only read backwards, and the term is usually applied to streams that only read forwards.

Name for a stream that cannot seek backwards

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