Roostetab

Roostetab is a term used to describe a lightweight, text-based convention for representing tabular data. It appears in informal documentation and hobbyist tooling as a simple, human-readable way to store and exchange small tables. While not a formal standard, roostetab is used in contexts where simplicity and quick editing in plain text are priorities.

Format and syntax

A roostetab typically consists of lines arranged in rows. The first line contains column headers, and subsequent lines contain data values. Columns are separated by a chosen delimiter, commonly a pipe character (|) or a tab. Values that contain delimiters or newlines are usually quoted, and quotes can be escaped to preserve literal characters. Whitespace around delimiters is often insignificant but may be preserved by specific parsers.

Metadata and variants

Some informal roostetab variants support an optional metadata line or header comments to indicate encoding, data types, or the date of creation. Because there is no formal specification, implementations vary in syntax and features. Parsers may offer basic validation, such as ensuring the number of fields per row matches the header.

Usage and applications

Roostetab is favored for quick data snippets in README files, lightweight logs, configuration-like tables, and simple data exchanges where full formats like CSV or JSON are unnecessarily verbose. It is typically used with small datasets and in environments where human readability is valued over machine rigidity.

Comparison and limitations

Compared with CSV or TSV, roostetab emphasizes readability and minimal tooling. It lacks formal validation, widespread tooling, and efficiency for large datasets. It is best viewed as a convenient informal format for small, human-edited tables rather than a robust data interchange standard.