Tejal Chandrakant More.

Assignment – Digital Library

M.L.I.Sc. – II year

Roll No. - 10

Date: 3/10/2013

File Naming Conventions It is important to name and organize your files in a consistent and descriptive manner so that it is obvious to you and to others where to find specific data and what each file contains.

It's a good idea to set up a clear directory structure that includes the project title with a date and some type of unique identifier. Individual directories may be set up by date, researcher, experimental run, etc. File names should contain sufficient information that the precise experiment can be identified from the file name. Always use the same format for naming your files and include the same information.

Consider including in file names:

Project or experiment name or acronym Location/spatial coordinates Researcher name/initials Date or date range of experiment; always use the same format, such as YYYYMMDD Type of data Conditions Version number of file Three-letter file extension for application-specific files

The name of each file must be unique within the directory where it is stored. This ensures that the file also has a unique path name in the file system.

Effective File Naming Conventions:

When developing a website there can be a huge amount of files and assets involved (e.g., web pages, graphics, scripts). Using a set of consistent file naming conventions will help you to avoid confusion and identify the files you are looking for quickly and easily.

A set of effective file naming conventions is a valuable tool for any web professional, whether working alone or as part of a team. Inadequate file naming is one of the biggest blunders that beginner web designers and developers generally make. However, spending valuable time looking for a file lost amongst other poorly named files can be avoided with a little planning and thought.

File naming guidelines are:

A file name can be up to 255 characters long and can contain letters, numbers, and underscores.

The operating system is case-sensitive, which means it distinguishes between uppercase and lowercase letters in file names. Therefore, FILEA, FiLea, and fileaare three distinct file names, even if they reside in the same directory.

File names should be as descriptive and meaningful as possible.

Directories follow the same naming conventions as files.

Certain characters have special meaning to the operating system. Avoid using these characters when you are naming files. These characters include the following:

/ \ " ' * ; - ? [ ] ( ) ~ ! $ { } &lt > # @ & | space tab newline

A file name is hidden from a normal directory listing if it begins with a dot ( .). When the ls command is entered with the -a flag, the hidden files are listed along with regular files and directories.

The purpose of file naming conventions :

Effective file naming is the cornerstone for building a successful paperless office. It is also essential for effective collaboration between individuals working on common business activities. The names you assign to your electronic documents constitute the foundation for the proper management of your documents. A document that is given a well structured name based on a file naming convention is easy to search for, identify and retrieve. However, the key to successfully executing this strategy is that everyone must adhere to the file naming policy set in place. This insures consistency, precision and reliability and contributes to efficiency and increased productivity especially in collaborative work environments where file sharing takes place.

NAMING CONVENTIONS FOR ELECTRONIC FILES AND FOLDERS

File and folder naming conventions are key to maintaining well-organized electronic directory and drive structures. This tip sheet provides examples of naming conventions; each unit may determine its own file naming procedure as long as it is applied consistently. Benefits of consistent file and folder naming are:

Files are easily distinguished one from another

File names are easier to browse

Retrieval is facilitated for all users (not just the file’s creator) File Naming Conventions :

Convention 1: Making file names short and clear

Convention 2: Avoiding repetition and redundancy in file names

Convention 3: How to delimit words

Convention 4: How to use numbers in file names

Convention 5: How to use dates

Convention 6: Using personal names in file names

Convention 7: Words to avoid using at the start of file names

Convention 8: How to order the elements of a file name

Convention 9: Recurring events - Including dates and descriptions

Convention 10: How to name correspondence records

Convention 11: Applying version numbers and draft status

Ten basic rules that could serve as a general guideline in structuring folder and file naming conventions:

1. Avoid extra long folder names and complex hierarchical structures but use information‐rich filenames instead.

2. Put sufficient elements in the structure for easy retrieval and identification but do not overdo it.

3. Use the underscore (_) as element delimiter. Do not use spaces or other characters such as: ! # $ % & ' @ ^ ` ~ + , . ; =) (

4. Use the hyphen ( )‐ to delimit words within an element or capitalize the first letter of each word within an element.

5. Elements should be ordered from general to specific detail of importance as much as possible.

6. The order of importance rule holds true when elements include date and time stamps. Dates should be ordered: YEAR, MONTH, DAY. (e.g. YYYYMMDD, YYYYMMDD, YYYYMM). Time should be ordered: HOUR, MINUTES, SECONDS (HHMMSS).

7. Personal names within an element should have family name first followed by first names or initials.

8. Abbreviate the content of elements whenever possible. 9. An element for version control should start with V followed by at least 2 digits and

should be placed as the last most element. 10. Prefix the names of the pertinent sub folders‐ to the file name of files that are being shar

ed via email or portable storage devices.

Key Principles of File Naming

There are several key principles that everyone can use to create their own set of effective file naming conventions.

1. Be consistent with your file names

The most important rule for effective file naming is consistency. Best practice file naming will only occur if your file naming conventions are applied consistently for all files and by everyone involved in file creation. Consistency is such an important aspect of good file naming that you should, not only apply your new file naming conventions to all your new files, but also consider renaming any existing files. Files can be easily renamed by right-clicking the existing name, selecting ‘Rename’ from the available options, and typing the new file name.

2. Make file names short, but clear and meaningful

File names should be kept as short as possible, while maintaining clarity and usability. Try to ensure that the words in the file name reflect the file’s contents and distinguish the file from other files. It is good practice to try to keep file names to below 25 characters whenever possible. Long file names will create unnecessary complexity and long file pathways that are more difficult to manage. Despite the need for succinctness, avoid using initials, non-standard abbreviations, or obscure words that may be forgotten or not understood.

3. Avoid repetition in file names

A file’s name should not contain information that is already contained in the folder in which it is stored. For example, if the folder is named ‘mywebsite’ there is no need to include the terms ‘mywebsite’ in each file stored in that particular folder. For example, ‘about.html’ is preferable to ‘about-my-website.html’. Repeating information merely increases the length of file names and creates long file pathways.

4. Avoid using spaces and underscores in file names

Never use spaces in file names. Some software packages and operating systems have difficulty recognising file names with spaces. Spaces in file names are also a particular problem when publishing files to websites. Web browsers will convert any spaces in file names to the encoded space character (%). This not only looks untidy, but it’s much easier to inadvertently create broken links if you try to change or correct existing file names. Similarly, always avoid underscores in your file names. Underscores have special uses in some operating systems and will cause problems in file names.

The best option is to substitute a space or underscore with a dash. Dashes not only enhance readability of your file names, but may also help to improve search engine optimisation.

Importantly, Google treats words separated by dashes as individual words, but underscores are treated as characters and, therefore, words separated by underscores are read as one word.

5. Avoid special characters in file names

Never use special characters in file names. For example, avoid using: . (fullstop), \ (backslash) / (forward slash), : (colon), *(asterisk), ? (question mark), < (left angle bracket), > (right angle bracket), | (pipe), % (percentage), # (hash), and $ (dollar sign). Special characters are often reserved for use by the operating system or used in variable names. Including special characters in a file name can cause conflicts and unnecessary problems such as loss of files or file errors.

6. Use lowercase only in file names

Avoid using capital letters in your file names. Some operating systems are case sensitive and using lower case lettering consistently prevents problems if you ever need to migrate your files to a case-sensitive operating system.

7. Include the version number in file names

Often files will have multiple versions and you may wish to keep a copy of each version as a historical record or as a backup. The easiest way to include the version number in a file is by using the letter ‘v’ to represent ‘version’ with a sequential number such as 001, 002, 003, etc. It’s also good practice to use leading zeros to ensure uniformity and make the numbers easier to read. For example, version 1 would be represented as v001.

The use of sequential numbers to record the version number of a file is much more effective than other additions such as ‘update’, ‘new’, ‘old’, etc. An exception to this rule is using ‘FINAL’ to indicate the final version of a file. This can help you to quickly identify the most accurate version of a file.

8. Include the creation date in file names

It is useful to include the creation data of a file to permit easy sorting of your files in date order. The best way to list the date is using the international standard date notion:

YYYY-MM-DD OR YYYYMMDD

YYYY is the year, MM is the month of the year between 01 (January) and 12 (December), and DD is the day of the month between 01 and 31. For example, January 5, 2012 is written as 2012-01-05 or 20120105.

9. Ordering the Elements of a File Name

The order of the elements in your file names will depend upon how you wish to organise, access and retrieve your files. If you think it will be easiest for you to retrieve your files according to date, then the date element should appear first. For example, ’2012-01-05-logo-v001.jpg’. However, if you think it makes more sense to retrieve your files according to their description, then the description element should appear first. For example, ‘logo-2012-01-05-v001.jpg’.

10. Create a Written List of Conventions

Don’t depend on remembering each file naming convention you decide to use as this is sure to fall short. Instead, take 15 minutes to create a comprehensive written list of your file naming conventions with examples. Place your list somewhere prominent and refer to it frequently to ensure you maintain consistency in your file naming.

References:

http://www.webhoots.com/effective-file-naming-conventions

https://lib.stanford.edu/data-management-services/file-naming