Work with Realm Files - Swift SDK
A realm is the core data structure used to organize data in Realm. A realm is a collection of the objects that you use in your application, called Realm objects, as well as additional metadata that describe the objects. To learn how to define a Realm object, see Define an Object Model.
Realm Files
Realm stores a binary encoded version of every object and type in a
realm in a single .realm file. The file is located at a specific
path that you can define when you open the
realm. You can open, view, and edit the contents of these files with
Realm Studio.
In-Memory Realms
You can also open a realm entirely in memory, which does not create a .realm
file or its associated auxiliary files. Instead the SDK stores objects in memory
while the realm is open and discards them immediately when all instances are
closed.
Default Realm
Calling Realm() or
RLMRealm opens the default realm.
This method returns a realm object that maps to a file named
default.realm. You can find this file:
iOS: in the Documents folder of your app
macOS: in the Application Support folder of your app
Tip
See: Open a Default Realm
To open a default realm, refer to Open a Default Realm or Realm at a File URL.
Auxiliary Realm Files
Realm creates additional files for each realm:
realm files, suffixed with "realm", e.g.
default.realm: contain object data.lock files, suffixed with "lock", e.g.
default.realm.lock: keep track of which versions of data in a realm are actively in use. This prevents realm from reclaiming storage space that is still used by a client application.note files, suffixed with "note", e.g.
default.realm.note: enable inter-thread and inter-process notifications.management files, suffixed with "management", e.g.
default.realm.management: internal state management.
Deleting these files has important implications.
For more information about deleting .realm or auxiliary files, see:
Delete a Realm
Find a Realm File Path
The realm file is located at a specific path that you can optionally define when you open the realm.
// Get on-disk location of the default Realm let realm = try! Realm() print("Realm is located at:", realm.configuration.fileURL!)
Tip
See: Open a Realm at a Path
To open a realm at a specific path, refer to Open a Default Realm or Realm at a File URL.