shortening my sequencing records without writing each record

[Kernelpanic]

Deleting records in a sequential file, adding records, or changing records all use the same principle I demonstrated in my previous post to edit a record. You have to make a new file, edit, add, or delete a record as you create the new file then delete the old file and rename the new file to the old file name.

Pete

Yes, in terms of a sequential database, but MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS). You don't need such crutches as in a sequential database, you can delete data records without moving the entire database back and forth. This is the crucial point! And more.

And you can correct records, very easily.
mysql> update <name> set XYZ = 'new name' where <name> = "XYZ";