As mentioned earlier, Zebra places few restrictions on the type of data that you can index and manage. Generally, whatever the form of the data, it is parsed by an input filter specific to that format, and turned into an internal structure that Zebra knows how to handle. This process takes place whenever the record is accessed - for indexing and retrieval.

The RecordType parameter in the zebra.cfg file, or the -t option to the indexer tells Zebra how to process input records. Two basic types of processing are available - raw text and structured data. Raw text is just that, and it is selected by providing the argument text to Zebra. Structured records are all handled internally using the basic mechanisms described in the subsequent sections. Zebra can read structured records in many different formats.