Research Data Management at Princeton

Descriptive file names are an important part of organizing, sharing, and keeping track of data files. Develop a naming convention based on elements that are important to the project.

File naming best practices:

• Files should be named consistently
• File names should be short but descriptive (<25 characters) (Briney, 2015)
• 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. 2014)
• 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

LocationAnalysisVersion
     CarnegieLakeWordCloudV1
     CarnegieLakeMapV1
     CarnegieLakeMapV2

Hierarchical file structures can add additional organization to your files. As with file naming use whatever makes most sense for your data. Some possibilities include:

• Project
• Date
• Analysis
• Location

For more on file structure, versioning, and a bonus preview of metadata and documentation, watch the Software Carpentry video on Data management