A data file is a

computer file A computer file is a System resource, resource for recording Data (computing), data on a Computer data storage, computer storage device, primarily identified by its filename. Just as words can be written on paper, so too can data be written to a ...

which stores data to be used by a computer application or

system A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its open system (systems theory), environment, is described by its boundaries, str ...

, including input and output data. A data file usually does not contain instructions or code to be executed (that is, a

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. It is one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangibl ...

). Most of the computer programs work with data files.

Types of data files

Data files can be stored in two ways: * Text files; * Binary files.

Text files

A text file (also called ASCII files) stores information in

ASCII ASCII ( ), an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for representing a particular set of 95 (English language focused) printable character, printable and 33 control character, control c ...

characters. A text file contains human-readable characters. A user can read the contents of a text file or edit it using a text editor. In text files, each line of text is terminated, (delimited) with a special character known as EOL (End of Line) character. In text files some internal translations take place when this EOL character is read or written. Examples of text files *A text document (often .txt)

Binary files

A binary file is a file that contains information in the same format in which the information is held in memory, i.e. in the binary form. In a binary file, there is no delimiter for a line. Also no translations occur in binary files. As a result, binary files are faster and easier for a program to read and write than the text files. As long as the file doesn't need to be read or ported to a different type of system, binary files are the best way to store program information. Examples of binary files *A JPEG image (.jpg or .jpeg)

Data file categories

Closed data file formats, frequently referred to as proprietary format files, have their

metadata Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive ...

data element In metadata, the term data element is an atomic unit of data that has precise meaning or precise semantics. A data element has: # An identification such as a data element name # A clear data element definition # One or more representation term ...

s hidden, obscured or unavailable to users of the file. Application developers do this to discourage users from tampering with or corrupting the data files or importing the data into a competitor's application. Open data format files have their internal structures available to users of the file through a process of

metadata publishing Metadata publishing is the process of making metadata data elements available to external users, both people and machines using a formal review process and a commitment to change control processes. Metadata publishing is the foundation upon which a ...

. Metadata publishing implies that the structure and

semantics Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...

of all the possible data elements within a file are available to users. Examples of open data files include CSV, XLS and

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing data. It defines a set of rules for encoding electronic document, documents in a format that is both human-readable and Machine-r ...

formats such as

HTML Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It defines the content and structure of web content. It is often assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets ( ...

for storing web pages or SVG for storing scalable graphics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Data File Computer files Data types

Types of data files

Text files

Binary files

Data file categories

See also

References