Indexed file
An indexed file is a computer file with an index that allows easy random access to any record given its file key.
The key must be such that it uniquely identifies a record. If more than one index is present the other ones are called alternate indexes.
The COBOL language supports indexed files with the following command in the FILE CONTROL section
ORGANIZATION IS INDEXED
Support for indexed files was built into IBM Mainframe computer COBOL .[1] The indexes were created with the file and maintained by the system.
In later systems, indexed files were replaced by current relational databases.
See also
- B-trees
- Hash table
- Data set (IBM mainframe)
- Legacy system
- dbm also X/Open ndbm and GNU gdbm
- Berkeley DB
Inline citations
- ↑ 1 VS COBOL II Application Programming Language Reference, Release 4, Eighth Edition (March 1993), IBM Corporation, Department J58, Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 1984, 1993. pp. 67-73