Q. What are the best practices for file naming?

Before beginning a project

• Check for established file naming conventions in your discipline or group.
• Naming conventions should be documented so that others in your lab or department can follow the same standards.
• File names should be descriptive and provide enough contextual information to be understandable.
• Avoid making file names too long because various operating systems have different character number limits. In general, keep file names limited to 30-50 characters.
• The most important information should go first. Computers arrange files by name. If you want to sort files by date, put the date first.
• Use ISO 8601 standard for date. Example: YYYYMMDD or YY-MM-DD.
• To add a timestamp to your file name, use a 24-hour time format. Example: YYYYMMDDhhmmss or YY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss
• For a sequential numbering system, use leading zeros to ensure files sort in sequential order. Example; 001, 002, …010, 011.
• Avoid special characters such as ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) ` ; : < > ? . , [ ] { } “ |
• Use underscores, dashes, camel case (first letter of each section of text is capitalized) or no separation in the file name instead of spaces.
• Remember, file names should be:
  • Machine readable
  • Human readable
  • Work well with default ordering

resources

• Self-audit checklist for research team members [Inside Page]
• Harvard File Naming Conventions [Examples included]
• Data Management and Sharing Assistance

This handout was adapted from “How to Name a File” by Julie Goldman and Harvard University. Licensed under CC BY 4.0