Global File Structure

Data Storage Conventions

VA FileMan stores the data of every file descendent from a single M global array (or from a node of a global array). When the routines, internally and externally, refer to a file in a global notation, VA FileMan expects the following format:

• ^GLOBAL(—For an entire global
• ^GLOBAL(X,Y,—For a subtree of a global

NOTE: A global notation must terminate with an open parenthesis (() or a comma (,). Indirection (@) is always used by VA FileMan routines when referring to data files.

For the most part, VA FileMan packs data into subscripts using the caret (^) character as the $PIECE delimiter. You refer to a data element as being stored in the nth ^-piece of a Global node.

Reviewed/Updated: May 2026