Files in data deposits must use a file naming convention, which should be described in the Readme file. There is no prescribed convention, but best practices for file naming include:
- Machine-readable: file names should not include special characters (which may not be readable by some file systems), and should be named in such a way that a computer can easily sort them in a logical manner. Dates, when included in file names, should use the YYYY_MM_DD format.
- Human-readable: file names should describe the contents. Use CamelCase, underscores, or dashes to separate words for easy readability
- Meaningful: file names should include necessary information to know the contents of the file, and remain short enough that they are easy to read in a normal file navigation system.
Additional guidance on file naming can be found in UBC's File Naming Guide
