flat file

A flat file is a structureless data set. It is usually a text file from which all descriptions for the data, all markups for text processing, and all character structures have been removed.

Programs that access flat files must have information about the flat file data and about its structures.

Text documents from text programs, such as those from Microsoft Word, that are saved as plain text " text only" files are flat files. Such a file contains the plain text but no information about formatting. Comma Separated Values( CSV) is another example of a flat file format.