backing store

<text> Character storage in memory or on disk, as opposed to displayed or printed characters. This distinction is important where the visual ordering of characters differs from the order in which they are stored, e.g. bidirectional or non-spacing layout.

In a Unicode encoding, text is stored in sequential order in the backing store. Logical or backing store order corresponds to the order in which text is typed on the keyboard (after corrections such as insertions, deletions, and overtyping). A text rendering process converts Unicode text in the backing store to readable text.

["The Unicode Standard: Worldwide Character Encoding", Version 1.0, Vol. 1. Addison-Wesley, 1991].

(28 May 1996)