edit
@akash-akya pointed out in the comments that the file module supports named pipes since OTP 20. So none of this post is really needed anymore if you are on >= OTP 21.
The intention of this post is to provide a solution (with examples) to a somewhat uncommon issue in Erlang. I hate searching for answers to the same problems over and over, and I had a hard time finding answers to this particular problem, so I wrote it all down once I figured it out. If one day you decide to read and write data through fifo's (named pipes) and then decide you want to read or write the other end of the pipe from Erlang, this post is for you.