What is flat file system? 

A system of organizing files in an operating system in which all files are stored in a single directory. In contrast to a hierarchical file system, in which there are directories and subdirectories and different files can have the same name as long as they are stored in different directories, in a flat file system every file must have a different name because there is only one list of files. Early versions of the Macintosh and DOS operating systems used a flat file system. Today's commercial operating systems use a hierarchical file system.

Answered by ayisha at 12:20 AM on November 08, 2007

A flat file database describes any of various means to encode a data model (most commonly a table) as a plain text file.

Answered by quadeer at 12:19 AM on November 08, 2007

A flat file database describes any of various means to encode a data model (most commonly a table) as a plain text file.

Answered by Adi at 8:19 PM on November 07, 2007

A flat file is a file containing records that have no structured interrelationship. The term is frequently used to describe a textual document from which all word processing or other structure characters or markup have been removed. In usage, there is some ambiguity about whether such markings as line breaks can be included in a "flat file." In any event, many users would call a Microsoft Word document that has been saved as "text only" a "flat file." The resulting file contains records (lines of text of a certain uniform length) but no information, for example, about what size to make a line that is a title or that a program could use to format the document with a table of contents.This type of flat file is also known as a comma-separated values file (CSV) file. In SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Structured Query Language and , Allen G. Taylor notes that the advantage of a flat file is that it takes up less space than a structured file. However, it requires the application to have knowledge of how the data is organized within the file.

Answered by Owais at 7:16 PM on November 07, 2007

A flat file is a file containing records that have no structured interrelationship. The term is frequently used to describe a textual document from which all word processing or other structure characters or markup have been removed. In usage, there is some ambiguity about whether such markings as line breaks can be included in a "flat file." In any event, many users would call a Microsoft Word document that has been saved as "text only" a "flat file." The resulting file contains records (lines of text of a certain uniform length) but no information, for example, about what size to make a line that is a title or that a program could use to format the document with a table of contents. Another form of flat file is one in which table data is gathered in lines of ASCII text with the value from each table cell separated by a comma and each row represented with a new line. This type of flat file is also known as a comma-separated values file (CSV) file. In SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Structured Query Language and , Allen G. Taylor notes that the advantage of a flat file is that it takes up less space than a structured file. However, it requires the application to have knowledge of how the data is organized within the file. By using SQL and a database (rather than a collection of files in a file system), a user or an application is free from having to understand the location and layout of data (for example, the length of each item of data, its type of data, and its relationship to other data items).

Answered by Relax at 7:00 PM on November 07, 2007

A flat file is a file containing records that have no structured interrelationship. The term is frequently used to describe a textual document from which all word processing or other structure characters or markup have been removed. In usage, there is some ambiguity about whether such markings as line breaks can be included in a "flat file." In any event, many users would call a Microsoft Word document that has been saved as "text only" a "flat file." The resulting file contains records (lines of text of a certain uniform length) but no information, for example, about what size to make a line that is a title or that a program could use to format the document with a table of contents.

Answered by satyakam at 6:53 PM on November 07, 2007

A flat file database describes any of various means to encode a data model (most commonly a table) as a plain text file. A flat file is a file that contains records, and in which each record is specified in a single line. Fields from each record may simply have a fixed width with padding, or may be delimited by whitespace, tabs, commas (CSV) or other characters. Extra formatting may be needed to avoid delimiter collision. There are no structural relationships.

Answered by mrmister at 6:17 PM on November 07, 2007

A flat file system is any software application such as an operating system, forum or word processor that stores all it's files in the same directory. Most flat file systems are quite old or simple in design and most newly designed software applications use a hierarchical file system. If you want to view a software application that currently uses a flat file system there is the UPB Forum. However it would be near impossible to find any modern operating system that uses a flat file system instead of a hierarchical file system.

Answered by pooja at 5:33 PM on November 07, 2007

A system of organizing files in an operating system in which all files are stored in a single directory. In contrast to a hierarchical file system, in which there are directories and subdirectories and different files can have the same name as long as they are stored in different directories, in a flat file system every file must have a different name because there is only one list of files. Early versions of the Macintosh and DOS operating systems used a flat file system. Today's commercial operating systems use a hierarchical file system. Flat file system should not be confused with flat file.

Answered by dilli at 5:09 PM on November 07, 2007

A system of organizing files in an operating system in which all files are stored in a single directory. In contrast to a hierarchical file system, in which there are directories and subdirectories and different files can have the same name as long as they are stored in different directories, in a flat file system every file must have a different name because there is only one list of files. Early versions of the Macintosh and DOS operating systems used a flat file system. Today's commercial operating systems use a hierarchical file system.

Answered by alokgupta14 at 5:07 PM on November 07, 2007