File Naming Conventions
A naming convention is a convention (generally agreed scheme) for naming things. Conventions differ in their intents, which may include to: Allow useful information to be deduced from the names based on regularities. For instance, in Manhattan, streets are consecutively numbered; with East-West streets called "Streets" and North-South streets called "Avenues". Show relationships, and in most personal naming conventions Ensure that each name is unique for the same scope. File naming best practices: Files should be named consistently File names should be short but descriptive (<25 characters) (Briney) Avoid special characters or spaces in a file name Use capitals and underscores instead of periods or spaces or slashes Use date format ISO 8601: YYYYMMDD Include a version number (Creamer et al.) Write down naming convention in data management plan Elements to consider using in a naming convention are: Date of creation (putting the date in the front will facilitate computer aided date sorting) Short Description Work Location Project name or number Sample Analysis Version number Example YYYYMMDD_Image_Modification 20130420_tina_original.tiff 20130420_tina_cropped.jpeg 20130420_tina_mustache.jpeg
File Naming Conventions
- 1. File Naming Conventions By: Narendra Singh Shekhawat Narendraa.singhshekhawat@gmail.com +91-7737777476
- 2. ONLY USE LETTERS, NUMBERS, DASHES, OR UNDERSCORES IN FILE OR FOLDER NAMES Avoid spaces use-a-dash-or-an underscore_where_you_would_ha ve_put_a_space_between_words Periods can still be used in the middle of a filename or folder name, but should never be put at the end of the name Many current filenames have "yyyy.mm.dd" at the end of the file this is OK!
- 3. How can we differentiate country and a non country specific file? Non Country-Specific File: Filename-v#-yyyy-mm-dd-initials Country Specific File: PMACC-Filename-v#-yyyy-mm-dd- initials
- 4. Country code for PMA BF = Burkina Faso CD = DR Congo ET = Ethiopia GH = Ghana ID = Indonesia KE = Kenya NE = Niger NG = Nigeria PK = Pakistan UG = Uganda RJ = Rajasthan TN = Tamil Nadu For more click on below link : http://eeieio.accountsupport.com/Country- Abbreviations.html
- 5. Components of file name Filename = Description of the file (keep it short) v# = Version number (update EVERY TIME you edit a shared file!) yyyy-mm-dd = Date last edited Update every time Maintain the structure of the date yyyy- mm-dd for sorting and clarity Example: November 14th, 2012 should be written 2012-11-14, NOT 12-11-14, which could be misinterpreted as 12 Nov 2014 or 11 Dec 2014. Initials = First, middle, and last initial of the last editor
- 6. File naming best practices: The first thing you should do when opening a shared file for editing is to SAVE AS with the new filename, including the updated version #, date, and your initials. A file should almost never be labeled as FINAL, and always in should be in an updated version # and date. This includes files that are shared on Dropbox and files that are emailed. Dashes -" should be used over underscores _. Words that are trapped by an underscore are not searchable using the spotlight function on your computer, so using a dash allows for easy file searching. The only exception to this rule are files that are generated directly by Stata, as these must use underscores.