How is data organized in a relational database?

Data in a relational database is organized in rows and columns. This structure is fundamental to the relational model, where each table represents an entity, and each row within that table corresponds to a specific instance of that entity, while columns represent the attributes or fields of that entity.

Each row, often referred to as a record or tuple, contains data for each of the attributes defined by the columns. The relational model also allows for the use of primary keys and foreign keys, which help to maintain relationships between different tables and ensure data integrity. This organization facilitates complex queries, data manipulation, and relationships between different types of data through structured query language (SQL).

Other options refer to different data storage methods: files and folders are indicative of a file system, key-value pairs represent a NoSQL storage model, and documents and collections pertain to document-oriented databases like MongoDB. Thus, rows and columns are the defining structure of a relational database, distinguishing it from other data organization methods.