Technical Terms

    Fixed-Length Format: Definition

    A data format where each field has a predetermined size.

    Definition

    Fixed-Length Format is a data structure where every field occupies a specific number of characters, regardless of the actual data content. Metro 2 uses fixed-length records where each field has defined start and end positions. Shorter data must be padded; longer data must be truncated.

    Usage Notes

    • Each field has exact character count
    • Numeric fields right-justified, zero-filled
    • Alpha fields left-justified, space-filled

    Related Terms

    More Technical Terms

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