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Ross Stores, Inc. – ‘10-Q’ for 7/30/22 – ‘EX-101.DEF’

On:  Tuesday, 9/6/22, at 5:41pm ET   ·   As of:  9/7/22   ·   For:  7/30/22   ·   Accession #:  745732-22-50   ·   File #:  0-14678

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  As Of               Filer                 Filing    For·On·As Docs:Size

 9/07/22  Ross Stores, Inc.                 10-Q        7/30/22   53:4.7M

Quarterly Report   —   Form 10-Q

Filing Table of Contents

Document/Exhibit                   Description                      Pages   Size 

 1: 10-Q        Quarterly Report                                    HTML   1.13M 
 2: EX-10.1     Material Contract                                   HTML    212K 
 3: EX-15       Letter re: Unaudited Interim Financial Info         HTML     16K 
 4: EX-31.1     Certification -- §302 - SOA'02                      HTML     21K 
 5: EX-31.2     Certification -- §302 - SOA'02                      HTML     21K 
 6: EX-32.1     Certification -- §906 - SOA'02                      HTML     18K 
 7: EX-32.2     Certification -- §906 - SOA'02                      HTML     18K 
13: R1          Document And Entity Information                     HTML     69K 
14: R2          Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings       HTML     78K 
15: R3          Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive  HTML     36K 
                Income                                                           
16: R4          Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets               HTML    123K 
17: R5          Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets               HTML     25K 
                (Parenthetical)                                                  
18: R6          Condensed Consolidated Statements of Stockholders'  HTML     75K 
                Equity                                                           
19: R7          Condensed Consolidated Statements of Stockholders'  HTML     19K 
                Equity (Parenthetical)                                           
20: R8          Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows     HTML     90K 
21: R9          Summary of Significant Accounting Policies          HTML     69K 
22: R10         Fair Value Measurements                             HTML     35K 
23: R11         Management Incentive Plan and Stock-Based           HTML     60K 
                Compensation                                                     
24: R12         Earnings Per Share                                  HTML     42K 
25: R13         Debt                                                HTML     64K 
26: R14         Taxes on Earnings                                   HTML     25K 
27: R15         Summary of Significant Accounting Policies          HTML     42K 
                (Policies)                                                       
28: R16         Summary of Significant Accounting Policies          HTML     76K 
                (Tables)                                                         
29: R17         Fair Value Measurements (Tables)                    HTML     35K 
30: R18         Management Incentive Plan and Stock-Based           HTML     54K 
                Compensation (Tables)                                            
31: R19         Earnings Per Share (Tables)                         HTML     40K 
32: R20         Debt (Tables)                                       HTML     57K 
33: R21         Summary of Significant Accounting Policies          HTML     32K 
                (Disaggregation of Revenue) (Details)                            
34: R22         Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Cash,   HTML     32K 
                Cash Equivalents, Restricted Cash Reconciliation)                
                (Details)                                                        
35: R23         Summary of Significant Accounting Policies          HTML     41K 
                (Narrative) (Details)                                            
36: R24         Summary of Significant Accounting Policies          HTML     19K 
                (Leases) (Details)                                               
37: R25         Fair Value Measurements (Balance Sheet Items)       HTML     22K 
                (Details)                                                        
38: R26         Fair Value Measurements (Underlying Asset Value)    HTML     20K 
                (Details)                                                        
39: R27         Management Incentive Plan and Stock-Based           HTML     26K 
                Compensation (Recognized Stock-Based Compensation)               
                (Details)                                                        
40: R28         Management Incentive Plan and Stock-Based           HTML     24K 
                Compensation (Total Stock-Based Compensation                     
                Recognized in the Consolidated Statements of                     
                Earnings) (Details)                                              
41: R29         Management Incentive Plan and Stock-Based           HTML     60K 
                Compensation (Narrative) (Details)                               
42: R30         Management Incentive Plan and Stock-Based           HTML     41K 
                Compensation (Unvested Restricted Stock, RSU, and                
                Performance Shares Activity) (Details)                           
43: R31         Earnings Per Share (Narrative) (Details)            HTML     19K 
44: R32         Earnings Per Share (Schedule of Basic and Diluted   HTML     39K 
                EPS Computations) (Details)                                      
45: R33         Debt (Schedule of Short-Term and Long-Term Debt)    HTML     49K 
                (Details)                                                        
46: R34         Debt (Narrative) (Details)                          HTML     50K 
47: R35         Debt (Interest Expense, Net) (Details)              HTML     26K 
48: R36         Taxes on Earnings (Narrative) (Details)             HTML     28K 
51: XML         IDEA XML File -- Filing Summary                      XML     90K 
49: XML         XBRL Instance -- rost-20220730_htm                   XML   1.14M 
50: EXCEL       IDEA Workbook of Financial Reports                  XLSX     77K 
 9: EX-101.CAL  XBRL Calculations -- rost-20220730_cal               XML    121K 
10: EX-101.DEF  XBRL Definitions -- rost-20220730_def                XML    223K 
11: EX-101.LAB  XBRL Labels -- rost-20220730_lab                     XML    857K 
12: EX-101.PRE  XBRL Presentations -- rost-20220730_pre              XML    479K 
 8: EX-101.SCH  XBRL Schema -- rost-20220730                         XSD     87K 
52: JSON        XBRL Instance as JSON Data -- MetaLinks              233±   350K 
53: ZIP         XBRL Zipped Folder -- 0000745732-22-000050-xbrl      Zip    275K 


‘EX-101.DEF’   —   XBRL Definitions — rost-20220730_def


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1 Subsequent Filing that References this Filing

  As Of               Filer                 Filing    For·On·As Docs:Size             Issuer                      Filing Agent

 3/28/23  Ross Stores, Inc.                 10-K        1/28/23   80:6.7M


2 Previous Filings that this Filing References

  As Of               Filer                 Filing    For·On·As Docs:Size             Issuer                      Filing Agent

 3/28/17  Ross Stores, Inc.                 10-K        1/28/17   81:7.8M
 9/09/15  Ross Stores, Inc.                 10-Q        8/01/15   51:4.2M
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