Unix file naming convention [closed]

Question

I was wondering what is the naming convention for files in Unix? I am not sure about this, but I think there is perhaps a universal naming convention that one should follow?

For example, I want to name a file say: backup with part 2 and random

Should I do it like this:

backup_part2_random

OR

backup-part2-random

OR

backup.part2.random

I hope the question is clear. Basically, I want to choose a format that conforms to the Unix philosophy.

Answer 1

. is used to separate a filetype extension, e.g. foo.txt.

- or _ is used to separate logical words, e.g. my-big-file.txt or sometimes my_big_file.txt. - is better because you don't have to press the Shift key (at least with a standard US English PC keyboard), others prefer _ because it looks more like a space.

So if I understand your example, backup-part2-random or backup_part2_random would be closest to the normal Unix convention.

---

CamelCase is normally not used on Linux/Unix systems. Have a look at file names in /bin and /usr/bin. CamelCase is the exception rather than the rule on Unix and Linux systems.

(NetworkManager is the only example I can think of that uses CamelCase, and it was written by a Mac developer. Many have complained about this choice of name. On Ubuntu, they have actually renamed the script to network-manager.)

For example, on /usr/bin on my system:

$ ls -d [A-Z]* | wc -w    # files starting with a capital
6
$ ls -d *_* | wc -w       # files containing an underscore
178
$ ls -d *-* | wc -w       # files containing a minus/dash
409

and even then, none of the files starting with a capital uses CamelCase:

$ ls -d [A-Z]*
GET  HEAD  POST  X11  Xvnc  Xvnc4

Answer 2

Far more important that a particular convention is being consistent. Pick a style, and stick with it.

Answer 3

My take on Unix/Linux filename conventions:

• Unix/Linux filesystems don't inherently support the notion of an extension. The concept of a file extension completely exists as something supported by utilities such as cp, ls, or the shell you are using. I believe it is this way on NTFS as well, but I could be wrong.

• Executables, including shell scripts, usually never have any type of extension. Scripts will have a hashbang line (i.e. #!/bin/bash) that identifies what program should interpret it.

• Any executable that is two letters long is super important. So don't name your executables two-letter filenames. Any file in /etc ending in tab is also super important, such as fstab, mtab, inittab.
• Sometimes .d is appended to directory names, particularly in /etc, but this isn't widespread (UPDATE: https://serverfault.com/questions/240181/what-does-the-suffix-d-mean-in-linux)
• rc is widely used for configuration scripts or files, either prepending (e.g., rc.local) or suffixing (.vimrc)
• The Unix/Linux community has never had a three-character limit on extensions and frowns upon shortening well know extensions to fit. For example, don't use .htm at the end of HTML files on Unix/Linux, use .html.
• In a set of files, a filename is sometimes capitalized, or in all caps, so it appears at the head of a directory listing. The classic example is Makefile in source packages. Only do this for stuff like README.
• ~ is used to identify a backup file or a directory, as in important_stuff~, or /etc~. Many shells will expand a lone ~ to $HOME.
• Library files almost always begin with lib. Exception is zlib and probably a few others.
• Scripts that are called by inetd sometimes are tagged with a leading in., such as in.tftpd.
• The ending z in vmlinuz means zipped, but I've never seen any other file named this way.

Answer 4

Two thoughts:

1. In the Naming Variables, Functions, and Files section of the GNU Coding Standards you'll find:

   Please use underscores to separate words in a name, so that the Emacs word commands can be useful within them. Stick to lower case;

   While IMO saying "You should use _ because emacs" seems a bit dated, it is nevertheless in their 'standards' document.

2. Let's suppose for a moment that we all agree that the linux kernel is the be-all-and-end-all* of linux projects, and that the conventions used there are what could be considered 'standard' convention.

   grep-ing source for the linux kernel you'll find the following:

   • 44.6% of the time only dash is used
   • 54.1% of the time only underscore
   • 1.2% of the time a file uses both.

Interestingly, the source for git weighs in at 85% for dashes, 3.8% for underscores, and 11.1% for both.

The choice is clear, debate over. ;)

Personal opinion: I use dashes for aesthetic and shift key reasons. If you're working on a team, take a vote. But to reiterate what's been said, be consistent.

* or "be_all and end_all" if you like

Answer 5

In unix filename is just a string, unlike DOS, where filename was composed from name and extension. So any of given filenames is completely acceptable.

But many programs still use file suffixes beginning with dot to distinguish different file types, i.e. Apache Web Server uses suffixes to set correct MIME type in answer headers.

Answer 6

Stick to alphanumeric filenames. Avoid spaces or replace spaces with underscores ( _ ). Limit punctuation in file names to periods (.), underscores ( _ ), and hyphens (-). Generally filenames are lowercase, but I use CamelCase when I have multiple words in the filename.

Use extensions which indicate the type of file. Programs do not need extensions as the execute bit is used to indicate programs, and the shells know how to run programs of various types. It is common but not required to (.sh) for shell scripts, and (.pl) for perl scripts. The Windows executable extensions .bat, .com, .scr, and .exe indicate Windows executables on Unix.

Pick a standard and stick to it. But it won't break things if you avoid it.

Hidden (or dot) files have names starting with a period. These normally don't show up in directory listings. Use 'ls -a' to include the dot files in the list.

Answer 7

Characters you should not use in filenames:

| ; , ! @ # $ ( ) < > / \ " ' ` ~ { } [ ] = + & ^

Character delimiters you should use to make names easier to read:

_ - . :

(In some cases ":" has special meaning though)

Answer 8

To add to what others have said, I'd just say that while accented letters and many special characters are legal in filenames they can cause issues in any of the following scenarios:

• You share your filesystem with other computers, particularly with different operating systems;
• You share files with others (and although email tends to be quite good with conversions, sometimes it just does not work);
• You use shell scripts to automate some tasks (spaces are particularly problematic, though there are many ways to deal with them);
• You use a file share from another computer.

...

Answer 9

• use - or _ for naming files

• _ for functions

• . for extensions

example:

cat << EOF > foo_bar-env.sh  
foo_bar() {  
echo baz  
}    
EOF  

Answer 10

One convention is to use "_" to replace spaces as separators between words. Other characters could be used to replace spaces, but there are slightly stronger conventional uses for "-" and "." in pathnames, so "_" is usually preferred.

Spaces are legal in pathnames, but are conventionally avoided, because they require quoting the pathname ("foo bar") or escaping the spaces (foo\ bar). A properly written shell script will quote variables that may include spaces, particularly pathnames, but failing to do so is a common oversight, and it's a lot of extra typing when doing a one-off command entered at the command line.

Using "-" to separate clusters of numbers, as in timestamps or serial numbers, is a convention commonly used outside the context of filesystems. Using "." to separate "file extensions" that indicate the type of file is very common, and some important tools depend on it. For instance, the package management system on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and its derivatives, RPM, expects package files to end with ".rpm". The traditional tarball is a tar file (".tar") that has been gzipped (".gz"), and so ends in ".tar.gz".

So putting these together, you often end up with filenames that look like, "home_backup_2017-07-01.tar.gz"

Answer 11

I agree with David Oneill that you should just go with something.

But it is nice if the files is sortable in the same dir, so dont number 0..10 but number 00..10.

When using dates in names, go with a standard date format like ISO8601.

And dont be afraid to use multiple chars to separate logical parts in the name. If you use _ (that was 3 _), then you can simplify the regexps on filenames later on.

So your example could then be something like this:

backup_2011-06-19T114012___part002___random

Easy to read and easy to parse with scripts.

Answer 12

Words in a filename can be either separated with _ or - according to Unix convention.

If you use -, it's easier to type, saves you from pressing SHIFT. But since - takes so little space, it is a bit hard to read word separations compared to _. Using _ to separate words makes it look much cleaner since _ takes up more space.

In shell scripting and other computer programming, _ are used for multi word variables, like MY_ENVIRONMENT_FILE. Making the filenames use _ as well keeps it consistent: MY_ENVIRONMENT_FILE=~/my_environment_file.

In web development, - is preferred for file naming. One reason is probably because the underline in weblinks can hide the underscores and might make it difficult if you are typing the weblink by hand.

In most editors and as well as web pages, this_long_word can be fully selected with a double click but not this-long-word.

Answer 13

There is definitely a standard for Linux. If you look at the file names in any Linux system they are lower case with dashes: /usr/bin/ssh-keygen. This is specified in one of the Linux Standards Base documents that I cannot find right now. It is also specified by GNU which says to use underscores for variable names and dashes for file names.

Answer 14

To add to what everyone else has said:

1. Even though Linux doesn't care much about extensions, Windows does, so make sure any file you ever plan on giving anyone has the appropriate extension.

2. CamelCaps seems to be the easiest to use scripts with, no special characters to worry about escape sequences.