Storage record
Encyclopedia
In computer science
, a storage record is:
In Unix-like
systems, a number of programs (for example, awk
, join
, and sort
) are designed to process data consisting of records (called lines
) each separated by newline
s, where each record may contain a number of fields separated by spaces, commas, or some other character.
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, a storage record is:
- A group of related data, words, or fields treated as a meaningful unit; for instance, a Name, Address, and Telephone Number can be a "Personal Record".
- A self-contained collection of information about a single object; a record is made up of a number of distinct items, called fields.
- In IBM mainframes, a record is a basic unit of device-to-program data transfers. Mainframe files, properly called data setsData set (IBM mainframe)data set , dataset , is a computer file having a record organization. The term pertains to the IBM mainframe operating system line, starting with OS/360, and is still used by its successors, including the current z/OS. Those systems historically preferred this term over a file...
, are traditionally structured collections of records, as opposed to modern byte streamByte streamIn computer science, a byte stream is a bit stream, in which data bits are grouped into units, called bytes.In computer networking the term octet stream is sometimes used to refer to the same thing; it emphasizes the use of bytes having the length of 8 bits, known as octets.Formally, a byte stream...
access files. Records may have a fixed length or variable length.
In Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
systems, a number of programs (for example, awk
AWK (programming language)
The AWK utility is a data extraction and reporting tool that uses a data-driven scripting language consisting of a set of actions to be taken against textual data for the purpose of producing formatted reports...
, join
Join (Unix)
join is a command in Unix-like operating systems that merges the lines of two sorted text files based on the presence of a common field. It is similar to the join operator used in relational databases but operating on text files....
, and sort
Sort (Unix)
sort is a standard Unix command line program that prints the lines of its input or concatenation of all files listed in its argument list in sorted order. Sorting is done based on one or more sort keys extracted from each line of input. By default, the entire input is taken as sort key...
) are designed to process data consisting of records (called lines
Line (text file)
In computing, a line is a unit of organization for text files. A line consists of a sequence of zero or more characters, usually displayed within a single horizontal sequence....
) each separated by newline
Newline
In computing, a newline, also known as a line break or end-of-line marker, is a special character or sequence of characters signifying the end of a line of text. The name comes from the fact that the next character after the newline will appear on a new line—that is, on the next line below the...
s, where each record may contain a number of fields separated by spaces, commas, or some other character.