<P> Plain text files usually contain one record per line . There are different conventions for depicting data . In comma - separated values and delimiter - separated values files, fields can be separated by delimiters such as comma or tab characters . In other cases, each field may have a fixed length; short values may be padded with space characters . Extra formatting may be needed to avoid delimiter collision . More complex solutions are markup languages and programming languages . </P> <P> Using delimiters incurs some overhead in locating them every time they are processed (unlike fixed - width formatting), which may have performance implications . However, use of character delimiters (especially commas) is also a crude form of data compression which may assist overall performance by reducing data volumes--especially for data transmission purposes . Use of character delimiters which include a length component (Declarative notation) is comparatively rare but vastly reduces the overhead associated with locating the extent of each field . </P> <P> Typical examples of flat files are / etc / passwd and / etc / group on Unix - like operating systems . Another example of a flat file is a name - and - address list with the fields Name, Address, and Phone Number . </P> <P> A list of names, addresses, and phone numbers written by hand on a sheet of paper is a flat file database . This can also be done with any typewriter or word processor . A spreadsheet or text editor program may be used to implement a flat file database, which may then be printed or used online for improved search capabilities . </P>

Memory is like a giant filing system in which the files