As far as I know there are these;

  • Camel case = coolFileName
  • Snake case = cool_file_name
  • Kebab case = cool-file-name
  • Pascal case = CoolFileName
  • Dot notation = cool.file.name
  • Flat case = coolfilename
  • Screaming case = COOLFILENAME

Personally I prefer the kebab/dot conventions simply because they allow for easy “navigation” with (ctrl+arrow keys) between each part. What are your preferences when it comes to this? Did I miss any schemes?

  • I don’t have a consistent style for everything and it depends on the circumstances. snake_case is often used, especially to avoid spaces. Sometimes I just do flatcase instead, and in rare cases also kebab-case or combined_snake-and-kebab-case. The combined_case is often useful to group parts of the name, like a dates and version numbers together and to indicate what part is constant; example-name_2024-08. Sometimes I also do the “Title Case”, which is basically PascalCase, but with spaces. Or even even more weird, “Python_Case”, which is PascalCase, but with snake_case, when I want to avoid spaces.

    I often avoid dots in regular filenames, unless they indicate a file extension or format, such as “.svg” and “.inkscape.svg” to indicate its a specific version of the SVG format. Or “.xiso.iso”, as a specific compressed version of the regular ISO file (for use with Xemu emulator). Basically the same logic and tradition as “.tar.gz” (but in reverse order).

    • I don’t like extra dots simply because pattern matching might get weird down the road. Keep dots for extension type and use Pascal to make it easier to read multiple words. Flatcase only if it’s short or I’m lazy for a temp file.