An information storage and retrieval technique in which the computer must move through a sequence of stored data items to reach the item to be retrieved.
Accessing records in the order in which they are stored. (Contrast with random access.)
A method for retrieving or storing data in which the data (record) is read from, written to, or removed from a file based on the logical order (sequence) of the record in the file. (The record cannot be accessed directly.) Contrast with direct access.
data is retrieved in serial order, or the order in which it was stored; data stored on magnetic tape must be retrieved or accessed sequentially.
An access method in which records are read from, written to, or removed from a file based on the logical order of the records in the file.
a method of file access in which the records are read or written one after the other.
The reading or writing of data in a sequential order as opposed to random access. Magnetic tape drives store data in sequential blocks.
a method of access in which all prior records or locations must be traversed before reaching the desired location or record.
This indicates that data cannot be selected without having to skip over earlier data first. This is the way that a cassette or video tape will behave. The other common behavior is called random access.
An access mode in which records are retrieved in the same order in which they were written. Each successive access to the file refers to the next record in the file.
In computer science sequential access means that a group of elements (e.g. data in a memory array or a disk file or on a tape) is accessed in a predetermined, ordered sequence. Sequential access is sometimes the only way of accessing the data, for example if it is on a tape. It may also be the access method of choice, for example if we simply want to process a sequence of data elements in order.