PPT Slide
Information on a file subdivided into records. A record corresponds roughly to a line on a terminal screen or to a printed line. The structure of unformatted records is processor-dependent, since the amount of space required on the external unit depends on the details of processor data representation.
A formatted record is composed of characters. These characters may include letters, digits, and special symbols from the ASCII character set.
NONADVANCING INPUT AND OUTPUT
Input and output always positions the input or output file, as a default option, at the end of the last record to or from which information has been transferred. In some cases this style of input and output is not convenient. It would often be preferable to stop data transfer in the middle of an input or output record and to continue later with the remainder of the same record. Instead of default advancing file-positioning style, output statement may request a non advancing style, whereby the file position may remain within a record after the input or output statement has been executed. (See example 9.5, p400, Meissner`s book)