Database Row

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What Does Database Row Mean?

In relational databases, a row is a data record within a table. Each row, which represents a complete record of specific item data, holds different data within the same structure.

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A row is occasionally referred to as a tuple.

Techopedia Explains Database Row

Database tables generally look similar to a spreadsheet. Relational tables have a very similar but more complex structure, as each table column represents a certain table property.

For example, a table called CUSTOMER_MASTER might store basic customer data. It could contain a CUSTOMER_LASTNAME column, which, as the name implies is used to store the last name of customers. This column may have certain parameters, such as each surname must be 30 characters or less and only comprised of alphabetical characters. Thus, each customer surname added to the CUSTOMER_MASTER table must meet these parameters.

However, each complete customer row or record also includes other items (such as first name, physical address, email address, date of birth and gender, etc). Like a spreadsheet, each item is neatly slotted into designated corresponding columns. Thus, each customer row or record is one horizontal line of data that holds a collection of items.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics 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 in 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 to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.