Define File, Record and Field

Field

       A combination of one or more characters is called field. It is the smallest unit of data that can be accessed by the user. The name of each field in a record is unique. The data type of a field indicates the type of data that can be stored in the field. Each field contains one specific piece of information. A field size defines the maximum number of characters that can be stored in a field.

                                                                                                                                      

For example, Employee Number, Employee Name, Grade and Designation are fields.

 

                                         

 

                                     Fields

Employee Number	0007
Employee Name	Umar akmal
Grade	1/4
Designation	Senior Manager

 

 

 

 

 

Record                    

 

 

 

 

 

Record

             

              A collection of related fields treated as a single as a single unit is called a record. For example a employee’s record includes a set of fields that contains Employer Number, Employee Name, Grade and designation etc.

 

 

File

      

      A collection of related records treated as a single unit is called file. File is also known as data set. Files are stored in disk like hard disk, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM etc. A Student file may contain the records of hundreds of students. Each student’s record consists of same fields but each field contains different data.