Flat Database

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What Does Flat Database Mean?

A flat database is a simple database system in which each database is represented as a single table in which all of the records are stored as single rows of data, which are separated by delimiters such as tabs or commas. The table is usually stored and physically represented as a simple text file.

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Because of the limitations of flat databases, they are not unsuitable for most software applications in which there is a need to represent and store complex business relationships. However, some application developers still use flat files in order to reduce the cost and complexity of integrating a relational database.

Flat databases are also sometimes referred to as flat-file databases.

Techopedia Explains Flat Database

Unlike relational databases, flat databases cannot represent complex relationships between entities. They also have no way of enforcing constraints between data. For instance in an application used by a commercial bank, it is a good idea to ensure that, at the time of creation, a new account must be linked to an existing customer. In a relational database this is easily enforced using the concept of foreign keys to ensure that customer IDs are filled in while creating an account, and also that said customer IDs already exist in another table. This is not possible with flat databases, which means that such a constraint has to be enforced by other means, such a through application code logic.

Another limitation of flat databases vis-a-vis relational databases is the former’s lack of query and indexing capability. SQL queries cannot be written in flat databases because the data is not relational, and indexes cannot be created because the data is all lumped together in one table. Data in a flat database is typically only readable by and useful to the software application associated with the database.

Flat databases are, or should only be, created for small, simple databases that will never grow large enough for the limitations outlined above to really become a problem. Some real-life examples of flat databases are contact lists in a mobile phone and the storage of a high-scores list in a simple video game. In such cases, there would be little point and no justifiable expense in integrating a complex relational database engine into the computing platform because a simple flat database will do nicely.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.