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| # Shapefiles Shapefiles are really a collection of related files that hold spatially referenced vector data (points, line segments, or polygons). Each set of Shapefiles can contain only one type of data and should always be moved as a group. ESRI Shapefiles are actually a collection of a number of files that have the same name but different extensions. The extension defines the file's purpose as indicated below. You should not change the content of these files outside of a GIS package unless indicated below.
Extension | Required | Description
.shp | Yes | The actual spatial data for the file.
.dbf | Yes | The attributes for the Shapefile. The attributes are stored in an old database format called dBase and can be viewed and even edited in Excel or another spreadsheet package. However, you should not change the number of rows in the dbf file outside a GIS package.
.shx | Yes | Indexes for the feature geometries in the file
.sbn | If present | First part of a spatial index if one has been added to the Shapefile
.sbx | If present | Second part of the spatial index
.ain | If present | First part of an attribute index if this Shapefile's attributes are linked to another table
.aih | If present | Second part of the attribute index
.avl | Optional | Contains symbology information for the Shapefile that is specific to ArcGIS
.prj | Optional | Contains the reference system definition for this file. If not present the reference system for this Shapefile is not known and should be defined before use.
.xml | Optional | Metadata for the file.