Text File

What Does Text File Mean?

A text file is a type of digital, non-executable file that contains letters, numbers, symbols and/or a combination. It enables the creation and storage of text without any special formatting.

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Text files are also known as flat files or ASCII files.

Techopedia Explains Text File

A text file is used to store standard and structured textual data or information that is human readable. It is defined in several different formats, including the most popular ASCII for cross-platform usage, and ANSI for Windows-based operating platforms. It lacks text formatting abilities, such as text alignment, bold text and font styles.

In a Windows operating system (OS), a text file is created using a text editor, such as Notepad or Word. It has a file extension of .txt.

Besides simply text, a text file is used to write and store source code for virtually all programming languages, such as Java or PHP. The created file can be converted to the respective programming language by changing the file extension from .txt to .php or .cpp.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse 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 explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…