collection of information stored as records. For example, the records for all charge customers at the local department store collectively form the accounts receivable file. Thus Mr. Smith's account is an accounts receivable record. A record that describes a single business activity is called a transaction record. Thus, when Mr. Smith buys a new suit on credit, the sales clerk writes up a credit sales ticket as a transaction record. The total set of credit sales tickets for that day would collectively comprise a daily credit sales transaction file.
- to place material in a given order for accessible retrieval. Items may be arranged alphabetically, numerically, chronologically, geographically, or by subject.
- collection of stored information. The data in a computer file is stored in such a way that the computer can read information from the file or write information to the file. Personal computers can store files on magnetic tape, floppy disks, or hard disk.
- to formally submit a document, especially to an office, an agency, or a unit of the legal system. For example, one files an expense account.
a block of information stored on disk, tape, or similar media. A file may contain a program, a document, or a collection of data (such as a mailing list). A file need not occupy a contiguous block of disk space.
group of records stored together for some common purpose. Large files are usually stored on computers. A file may consist of current customers, subscribers, or donors, or previous customers, subscribers, or donors. Each individual name on a file is contained in a unique record with information pertaining to that person.
