diff --git a/src/include/h5core/h5_file.h b/src/include/h5core/h5_file.h
index 71210e2..d4bf59c 100644
--- a/src/include/h5core/h5_file.h
+++ b/src/include/h5core/h5_file.h
@@ -18,27 +18,6 @@
 
 #include "h5core/h5_types.h"
 
-/*
-   file modes:
-
-   H5_O_RDONLY:
-	read data from existing file
-
-   H5_O_WRONLY:
-	create new file, if file not exists; write new or overwrite
-        existing data
-
-   H5_O_APPENDONLY:
-	allows to append new data to an existing file
-
-   H5_O_RDWR:
-	create new file, if file not exists; read and (over-)write data
- */
-#define H5_O_RDWR		0x00000001
-#define H5_O_RDONLY		0x00000002
-#define H5_O_WRONLY		0x00000004
-#define H5_O_APPENDONLY		0x00000008
-
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 extern "C" {
 #endif
diff --git a/src/include/h5core/h5_types.h b/src/include/h5core/h5_types.h
index c38b6ea..b1abac5 100644
--- a/src/include/h5core/h5_types.h
+++ b/src/include/h5core/h5_types.h
@@ -26,6 +26,29 @@ typedef enum  {
 	H5_ID_T,
 } h5_types_t;
 
+/*
+   file modes:
+
+   H5_O_RDONLY:
+	read data from existing file
+
+   H5_O_WRONLY:
+	create new file, if file not exists; write new or overwrite
+        existing data
+
+   H5_O_APPENDONLY:
+	allows to append new data to an existing file
+
+   H5_O_RDWR:
+	create new file, if file not exists; read and (over-)write data
+ */
+typedef enum {
+	H5_O_RDWR =	    0x01,
+	H5_O_RDONLY =	    0x02,
+	H5_O_WRONLY =	    0x04,
+	H5_O_APPENDONLY =   0x08
+} h5_file_modes_t;
+
 #ifdef   WIN32
 typedef __int64                 int64_t;
 #endif /* WIN32 */