In a database, what is referred to as a single piece of information stored in a record?

In the context of databases, a field is defined as a single piece of information stored within a record. Each record in a database consists of various fields that contain specific data points, such as a person's name, address, or phone number.

For example, in a database of users, one record might include multiple fields: one for the user's name, another for their email address, and yet another for their age. Each of these categories of information is considered a field. This structure allows databases to organize data in a way that enables easy retrieval and manipulation.

Other terms like record and table refer to collections of fields. A record is a complete set of related fields, and a table is a collection of multiple records, organized in rows and columns. The term attribute is often used interchangeably with field in informal contexts but is more commonly used in the context of data modeling to denote properties of an entity. In this scenario, focusing on the definition of each component clarifies why indicating a field is the correct choice when identifying a singular piece of information in a record.