Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

I have a data string that is defined as having two characters for the ID value, six characters for longitude, etc. "Fixed-length string" does not convey the requirement for internal bits of the string to be fixed-length as well.

share|improve this question
Apologies if this belongs in a computer-science-oriented community instead. – Jennifer Davis Apr 25 '12 at 6:38
Indeed, it's only fixed-length overall because the constituents are fixed-length. And if the overall length is fixed, the constituents are usually also. – Kaz Apr 25 '12 at 7:47
The string itself cannot be "called" something just because its constituents obey a pattern. You have to call it a standardized string perhaps, and explain 'standardized'. I'm not posting this as an answer, hoping someone will come up with a better one, if there is any. – Kris Apr 25 '12 at 8:01
When I saw the title to this question, my first thought was "chain". :-) – Pitarou Apr 25 '12 at 11:54

5 Answers

up vote 5 down vote

The concept comes from punch cards and mechanical readers where field locations had to be set in hardware. It is called a:

fixed length record

A straightforward google search for fixed length record will find you lots of similar definitions.

share|improve this answer
Fantastic; thank you! – Jennifer Davis Apr 25 '12 at 20:43
up vote 2 down vote

I would call it "a data string made of fixed-length fields". A bit verbose, but precise enough, I think.

share|improve this answer
Not sure if, at a time where such data was more common (because it was easy to parse), there was a specific term. Now, such format is mostly seen as outdated, being quite rigid, preferred format is CSV, or more structured data like Json, Yaml, XML... I suppose you got it from some old software or device, or some protocol / file format. – PhiLho Apr 25 '12 at 10:15
up vote 2 down vote

You could call it a data structure.

Or, to be more precise, a data structure that happens to reside within a fixed length string.

share|improve this answer
You're almost but not quite there. Afterall, a data structure is not necessarily, or even really, a string. – Kris Apr 25 '12 at 8:07
I've expanded my answer. Do you still think I'm not there? – Pitarou Apr 25 '12 at 11:50
up vote 1 down vote

Fixed-format string comes closest to the idea of a string whose costituents are all of fixed length.

Borrowing fron the legacy concept of a fixed-format record where fields are always of the same length, this term however, avoids all references to the file-record system. So much so, I do not want to mention even 'data structure'.

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

This is squarely in my field, yet nothing that specific comes to mind. The length of the constituents of this data unit being fixed is not really its most important attribute. Once upon a time, if you used the word record that would instantly conjure up an image of some fixed length unit with fixed fields. One word which still carries those connotations might be block.

Today, even if you are dealing with such a string, you're likely to make it "future proof" by writing the code so that it actually parses the pieces as if they were not fixed length (unless it is impossible to avoid relying on the fixed lengths due to some inherent ambiguity and lack of delimiting).

Good question for programmers.stackexchange.com.

share|improve this answer
I agree that this is a pretty outdated concept. However, the format I am working with--International Marine Meteorological Archive (IMMA) format--is a string with fixed-length portions with the attendant danger of a missed character meaning all following portions will be incorrect. I am creating an XML schema to ease data input with the hopes that someone will write a parser to take an XML file and turn it into this unwieldy string. In the documentation I'm writing, it is this rigid format that I am trying to emphasize, so to me it is the most important attribute. – Jennifer Davis Apr 25 '12 at 20:42

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.