GENDEX

GENDEX

Filename extension	gendex.txt
Type of format	Genealogy data exchange

GENDEX (GENealogical inDEX) is a specification to export the index of a genealogical home page to a global name index service. Developed by Eugene W. Stark as a feature of his GEDCOM to HTML translator software, GED2HTML. Stark's GENDEX site originally accepted the GENDEX files until that site was retired in 2004, since then other sites have continued to support the format.

Format

Each line in a GENDEX file represents the reference to a person record. Each GENDEX record has the following fields, each terminated by a '|' character:

Reference|SURNAME|given name /SURNAME/|date of birth|place of birth|date of death|place of death|                                                
                                                                   

• field 1: file name of web page referring to the individual
• field 2: surname of the individual
• field 3: full name of the individual
• field 4: date of birth or christening (optional)
• field 5: place of birth or christening (optional)
• field 6: date of death or burial (optional)
• field 7: place of death or burial (optional)

The full name field and the date fields have the format as it appears in the GEDCOM NAME and DATE record.

Example

E.g. the URL to a genealogical person record is http://domain.com/index.php?individual=I0001 . The first part including the '=' is the static base URL, which is constant for each person record. The 'I0001' is the variable part, which refers each individual. The GENDEX file could look like this:

I0001|MILLER|Jhon A. /MILLER/|30 JUN 1899|Berlin|20 SEP 1905|Hamburg|
I0002|SMITH|Ann /SMITH/||England||||
...

External links

• What is a GENDEX file? FAQ at FamilyTreeSeeker.com
• FamilyTreeSeeker.com: GENDEX search
• FamilyTreeSeeker.com: GENDEX file registration
• TNG network: GENDEX search
• TNG network: GENDEX file registration