In COBOL, information about a file that is established when a file is created and that cannot subsequently be changed during the existence of the file. Attributes include the organization of the file (sequential, relative, or indexed), the prime record key, the alternate record keys, the minimum and maximum record size, the record type (fixed or variable), the collating sequence of the keys for indexed files, the minimum and maximum physical record size, the padding character, and the record delimiter.