Zip cord
Zip-cord is sometimes used to describe a type of electrical or optical cable in which two or more conductors are held together by a single insulating jacket that can be easily separated by pulling them apart like a zip. The term is most common in the US but also used in the UK, in Australia the same cord might be called a figure-8 cable. The separable design keeps related conductors together, reducing< tangling for simple handling, with the option to separate them.
Some times each side of the cord will be coloured so as to keep track of which is which over a long length, these are mostly used in sound speakers but also as lamp or lighting cables cords, but only in temporary installations or mobile applications such as concerts, exhibitions etc not as a permanent installation.
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