plattetekstformaat

Plattetekstformaat, often translated as plain text format, refers to a class of file formats that encode information using only human-readable characters without embedded formatting commands or binary data. Files in this category are typically stored in a character encoding such as ASCII or Unicode (most commonly UTF-8) and are designed to be readable and editable with basic text tools.

Key characteristics of plattetekstformat include simplicity and portability. They are usually line-oriented, with content separated by newline characters, and carry no fixed document styling or binary content. Because they rely on simple character sequences, they can be opened by virtually any text editor on any operating system, and they are easy to process programmatically in a wide range of languages.

Common uses include source code files, configuration files, and log files. Plain text formats are also used for data interchange in simple forms, such as CSV, as well as for more structured representations like JSON, YAML, and XML, all of which remain plain text despite their syntax. The widespread adoption of UTF-8 has further enhanced portability in multilingual contexts.

Encoding and interoperability are central advantages: plain text avoids proprietary formatting and is resilient to software changes. The approach is inherently human-readable and well suited to version control and diffing. Drawbacks include a lack of explicit styling or rich semantics, potential ambiguity in delimiter-based formats, and inefficiency for large binary data or complex document structures without additional conventions or schemas.