Plainfile

Plainfile is a term used to describe a file that contains plain text with no formatting or binary data. The term is often used to distinguish simple, human-readable content from rich text, binary archives, or executable code. In practice, a plainfile typically consists of sequences of characters encoded in a common text encoding.

Characteristics: Common encodings are ASCII and UTF-8. Contents are readable characters without markup. There is no embedded styling or binary payload. Files commonly bear extensions such as .txt or .text, but the extension is optional. Line breaks and encoding specifics are the main conventions; different platforms may use different newline characters.

Uses: Plainfiles are used for configuration files, logs, scripting files, source code, and simple data interchange. They are favored for portability and durability because they can be opened with basic editors on virtually any system.

Advantages and limitations: Advantages include simplicity, human readability, and broad tool support. Limitations include lack of structure, metadata, and formatting; not suitable for rich text, multimedia, or complex data; encoding and newline differences can create interoperability issues.

See also: plain text, text file, configuration file, lightweight data interchange formats.