A comma-separated values (CSV) (also sometimes called character-separated values) file stores tabular data (numbers and text) in plain-text form. Plain text means that the file is a sequence of characters, with no data that has to be interpreted as binary numbers. A CSV file consists of any number of records, separated by line breaks of some kind; each record consists of fields, separated by some other character or string, most commonly a literal comma or tab. Usually, all records have an identical sequence of fields. A general standard for the CSV file format does not exist, but RFC 4180 provides a de facto standard for some aspects of it.