attribute

1. A file attribute is a technique for describing access to and properties of files and directories within a file system. You may see the term attribute used interchangeably with the term property.
2. A screen attribute controls a character's background and foreground colors, as well as other characteristics, such as underlining, reverse video, and blinking or animation.
3. In operating systems, a characteristic that indicates whether a file is a read-only file, a hidden file, or a system file or has changed in some way since it was last backed up.
4. In markup languages such as HTML and SGML, a name-value pair within a tagged element that modifies certain characteristics of that element.
5. In a database record, the name or structure of a field.

See also tag.