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Semi-structured data


Structured is data that is contained in a field for a particular record - such as data in a spreadsheet or a relational database. Unstructured data. Most data is unstructured - electronic files, metadata, web pages.

Semi-structured data is data that is not organized in a relational database, but which contains tags that separate elements of the data. An object database uses semi-structured data. It does not use tables, but instead creates relationships between two data sets directly. Many-to-many relations are established, rather than one-to-many as in relational databases. Object databases work better with complex data.

JSON, email, electronic data interchange (EDI) files, and .xml files are examples of semi-structured files. A .xml file for the contents of a Word document uses hundreds of tags for character formatting, footnotes, etc. - which are nested together in different levels. A .docx file consists of XML files inside a ZIP archive.


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Sean O'Shea has more than 20 years of experience in the litigation support field with major law firms in New York and San Francisco.   He is an ACEDS Certified eDiscovery Specialist and a Relativity Certified Administrator.

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The views expressed in this blog are those of the owner and do not reflect the views or opinions of the owner’s employer.

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