The term "PLAIN TEXT" refers to a broad category of data, such as file contents, that solely consist of readable characters and do not include their graphical representation or other objects, such as floating-point numbers, images, etc. It might also contain a restricted quantity of "whitespace" characters, like tabulation characters, spaces, and line breaks, which have an impact on the basic formatting of text.
Formatted text includes style information; structured text identifies paragraphs, sections, and other structural elements of the document; and binary files, some of which must be interpreted as binary objects (encoded integers, real numbers, images, etc.). All of these formats differ from plain text.
The phrase is occasionally used rather indiscriminately to refer to files that are empty of anything the speaker finds objectionable or that only contain "readable" content.
Although plain text can, in theory, be in any encoding, the term is sometimes understood to imply ASCII.
Additionally, plain text is occasionally used exclusively to exclude "binary" files—those in which the character encoding in use is insufficient to correctly interpret at least some of the file.
The Unicode Standard states that plain text is simply a series of character codes; plain text that has not been encoded is likewise a series of Unicode character codes.
On the other hand, styled text, sometimes referred to as rich text, is any text representation that combines plain text with extra details like color, font size, style, and hypertext links.
Some definitions, however, state that files containing markup or other meta-data are typically regarded as plain text as long as the markup is also present in a form that can be read by humans.
Today, the main reason to use plain text is to be independent of programs that demand unique file formats, encodings, or formattings.
The Kind of Plain Text
When referring to data (such as file contents) that only contain readable characters and do not include their graphical representation or other objects (such as floating-point numbers, images, etc.), it is common to use the term PLAIN TEXT in computing. Formatted text includes style information; structured text identifies paragraphs, sections, and other structural elements of the document; and binary files, some of which must be interpreted as binary objects (encoded integers, real numbers, images, etc.). All of these formats differ from plain text.
The phrase is occasionally used rather indiscriminately to refer to files that are empty of anything the speaker finds objectionable or that only contain "readable" content.
Although the term "plain text" can refer to any encoding, sometimes it is understood to mean ASCII.
Additionally, plain text is occasionally used exclusively to exclude "binary" files—those in which the character encoding in use is insufficient to correctly interpret at least some of the file.
Definition of Plain Text
Encryption algorithms, also known as ciphers, convert an encrypted message into plaintext. It is any readable data in a format that can be viewed or used without the requirement for a decryption key or device, including binary files.
Any message, document, file, and the like that is intended or has been encrypted is referred to as plaintext. Algorithms in cryptography convert ciphertext into plaintext and plaintext into ciphertext. We refer to these two procedures as encryption and decryption, respectively.
It is critical to secure plaintext stored in computer files because if it is stolen, disclosed, or transmitted without authorization, its contents become fully disclosed and may be subject to legal action. Instead of storing or communicating sensitive data in plaintext, it is standard operating procedure to encrypt it before it is stored or transmitted.