The format became widely used in molecular-structure sciences, although it is not specific to this field—it was designed as a universal approach to electronic data exchange and archiving.
One characteristic feature of the STAR File format is that data names (keys in key–value pairs) start with the underscore.
They are separated from data values only by white space, for example: The format was designed to provide a concise syntax for tabular data.
Loops start with the loop_ keyword followed by names corresponding to columns and then by values.
The "STAR FILE" name is a registered trade mark of the International Union of Crystallography .