In column input, how are data values organized?

In column input, data values are organized in a way that each value occupies a fixed location in a specified format. This means that when you are reading data using column input, you specify the exact starting and ending positions for each variable. The data is read from the raw data file based solely on these designated positions, which allows for precise and efficient reading of fixed-width data files.

This methodology is particularly useful when dealing with data sets where each field has a known length, allowing you to extract the necessary information without needing to look for delimiters such as commas or spaces. It ensures that every attribute is assigned correctly to its corresponding variable based on its defined location in the input line.

Other organizations of data, such as those requiring values to be separated by commas or quotes, do not apply to column input. Column input specifically relies on the spatial arrangement of data and does not permit values to be in any order, as each value must be read from the exact column specified.