以前刚用ArcGIS的时候，很是奇怪保存的文件下面怎么又那么多的文件，都不知道什么意思，保存下来，以后忘记了再看看
//转载自：http://gisman.blog.163.com/blog/static/34493388201022254341339/
这些文件英文解释如下（看不懂可以看下面的中文解释）：
Shapefile file extensions
shp—The main file that stores the feature geometry. Required..shx—The index file that stores the index of the feature geometry. Required..dbf—The dBASE table that stores the attribute information of features. Required.
There is a one-to-one relationship between geometry and attributes, which is based on record number. Attribute records in the dBASE file must be in the same order as records in the main file..sbn and .sbx—The files that store the spatial index of the features..fbn and .fbx—The files that store the spatial index of the features for shapefiles that are read-only..ain and .aih—The files that store the attribute index of the active fields in a table or a theme's attribute table..atx—An .atx file is created for each shapefile or dBASE attribute index created in ArcCatalog. ArcView GIS 3.x attribute indexes for shapefiles and dBASE files are not used by ArcGIS. A new attribute indexing model has been developed
for shapefiles and dBASE files..ixs—Geocoding index for read-write shapefiles..mxs—Geocoding index for read-write shapefiles (ODB format)..prj—The file that stores the coordinate system information. Used by ArcGIS..xml—Metadata for ArcGIS—stores information about the shapefile.
中文解释呢：
shapefile文件属于矢量数据中无拓扑关系的数据类型。
它至少包含3个文件，dbf、shp、shx 。
其中：dbf文件时存储矢量数据的属性信息的；
shp是存储矢量数据的空间信息的。
shx是保留要素几何学特征的索引文件。
另外，shapefile文件还可以包括其它文件，如sbn 、sbx 、prj等。
sbn 、sbx 也是空间索引文件，.prj属于数据的投影文件。
当中.shp、.shx、.dbf三个是万万不能删除的，删除掉一个就出错了。shp没了一切全都没了，正所谓的皮之不存，毛将焉附。删掉shx虽然打不开文件，但有工具能修复。删掉.dbf文件也能修复，可属性是找不回来了。删掉.prj文件会导致投影信息丢失。.sbn 、.sbx 文件删掉后将丢失所建的索引，但不影响大局。