The record–bufname reference specifies the table buffer you are using for the fetch, and a field reference specifies a field in the table. If field is an array reference, the whole array is fetched. The FIELDS form lists the fields included in the fetch, and the EXCEPT form lists the fields excluded from the fetch. FIELDS without field references fetches enough information to return the ROWID of a record, and EXCEPT without field references or record–bufname alone fetches a complete record.