flat file - meaning and definition. What is flat file
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What (who) is flat file - definition

DATABASE STORED AS AN ORDINARY UNSTRUCTURED FILE (FLAT FILE)
Flat-file; Flat file database; Flat file; Flat database; Flat File; Flatfile database; Flatfile

flat file         
¦ noun Computing a file that has no internal hierarchy.
flat file         
<operating system, storage> A single file containing {flat ASCII} representing or encoding some structure, e.g. a database, tree or network. Flat files can be processed with general purpose tools such as Perl and text editors but are less efficient than {binary files} if they must be parsed repeatedly by a program. Flat files are more portable between different operating systems and application programs than binary files, and are more easily transmitted in electronic mail. See also flatten, sharchive. [Jargon File] (1996-01-26)
flat file database         
<database> A database containing a single table, stored in a single flat file, often in a human-readable format such as comma-separated values or fixed-width columns. (2008-06-16)

Wikipedia

Flat-file database

A flat-file database is a database stored in a file called a flat file. Records follow a uniform format, and there are no structures for indexing or recognizing relationships between records. The file is simple. A flat file can be a plain text file (e.g. csv, txt or tsv), or a binary file. Relationships can be inferred from the data in the database, but the database format itself does not make those relationships explicit.

The term has generally implied a small database, but very large databases can also be flat.