THE STAR FILE - A NEW FORMAT FOR ELECTRONIC DATA TRANSFER AND ARCHIVING

A new type of format is proposed for the computer archiving and electronic transmission of text and numerical data. The Self-defining Text Archive and Retrieval (STAR) File uses standard ASCII text to specify both the data structure and the information. The syntax of this file is simple, and it may be easily interpreted visually or by computer. The STAR format is the basis for the Crystallographic Information File (CIF), which has been adopted by the International Union of Crystallography for the submission of data and text to crystallographic journals and data bases.