[fukawi2]

I recall working on a PICK D3 system, which was a "multivalue" database. Each field could have multiple values, those values could have sub values, and a third level beyond that.

Values were separated with char(254), subvalues were separated with char(253), and the third level were char(252) separated.

It was... unique, but worked. And to be fair, PICK originated in the 60's, so this method probably evolved in parallel to the ASCII table!