GEDCOM

GEDCOM provides a means of transferring genealogical data between programs. The GEDCOM standard specifies a file format which can store all the information from a genealogical database in a convenient form. The name is an abbreviation of "Genealogical Data Communication", and GEDCOM was devised and implemented by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Family History Department.

A GEDCOM file is a text file, which is usually given a .ged extension, and which can be opened and edited by a text editor such as MSDOS Edit or Notepad, or by Wordpad provided it is saved as a text file. Most genealogy database programs will support the import and export of data in GEDCOM format, so that once you have typed your data into such a program, it is transferrable from one program to another - GEDCOM is a standard format.

In the GEDCOM format, every individual and every family is identified by a unique alphanumeric reference. Most commonly, every individual is identified by a unique number, prefixed by the letter "I", and every family by a unique number prefixed by the letter "F". The first part of the file usually comprises a list of all the individuals, giving their personal details and the families to which they belong, and the second part of the file consists of a list of families, specifying which individuals, identified by number, are husband, wife and children of that family. You can therefore look up an individual, then look up the numbers labelled as FAMC or FAMS for that individual, and find that individual listed as respectively CHILD, or as HUSBAND or WIFE, in the families for those numbers.

For example:

0 @I93@ INDI

1 NAME Nicholas /Harding/

1 SEX M

1 FAMS @F36@

1 FAMC @F63@

.

.

0 @F36@ FAM

1 HUSB @I93@

.

.

0 @F63@ FAM

1 HUSB @I483@

1 WIFE @I731@

1 CHIL @I255@

1 CHIL @I93@

.

.

Thus FAMS specifies the family of which the individual is a Spouse, and FAMC the family of which the individual is a Child. The "@" characters are just there to mark out for the computer that what is between them represents a reference number.

Each line in the file begins with a level number, and if this is zero it usually marks the beginning of the block of lines - known as a record - comprising the information for a particular individual or family. Within each record, each line consists of the level number, followed by a tag, often followed by an item of information corresponding to the tag. There is a large number of possible tags, but the most common ones are: BIRT, BURI, CHIL, CHR (christening), DATE, CONT (continuation), DATE, DEAT, FAMC, FAMS, HUSB, MARR, NAME, NOTE, PLAC, SEX, WIFE. (INDI and FAM are also tags, which always appear at the end of a line). The level number specifies that the information on the line relates to the nearest line above that has a level number which is smaller by 1. To take an example:

0 @I1@ INDI

1 NAME Margaret Ann /Rochester/

1 SEX F

1 BIRT

2 DATE 01 JUN 1869

2 PLAC Winchester

1 DEAT

2 DATE 1945

2 PLAC Winchester

The NAME, SEX and BIRT tags all have level number 1 because they relate to individual I1, whilst DATE and PLAC have level number 2 because they represent dates and places of birth or of death, and so relate to the BIRT or DEAT tags, on lines which have level number 1. Note that the surname is marked out by being enclosed within '/' characters.

Two other tags are essential: every complete GEDCOM file must begin with the line

0 HEAD

and the last line must be

0 TRLR

The GEDCOM format has developed through several revisions. The current standard is version 5.5. Features introduced by the later draft standard 5.5.1, notably acceptance of UTF-8 text, are supported by some programs, including GWintree.