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.
Tip
See: Open an In-Memory Realm
To open an in-memory realm, refer to Open an In-Memory Realm.
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.