Python Variable Names and Naming Rules

By | July 19, 2019

Python Variable Names and Naming Rules is a Python tutorial to explain the rules and importance of choosng good names for your variables in a program.

Choose Short but Meaningful Variable Names

Python Variable names shoud be short but meaningful. It will add in program readability. For example, ‘num’ is a better variable name than ‘n’. Because it is more descriptive and meaningful. We can easily understand that the variable ‘num’ will store a number like 10, 100 or 10.56 etc.

Python Variable Names and Naming Rules

Here are some important rules about variable names in Python:

  1. You can use letters, numbers and underscore for writing variable names in Python. For example, num, sum, first_name, last_name, pay, emp_name, num1, num2 etc are valid Python variable names. [Note:] you may use upper case letters in variable names, but writing names in lower letters and using underscore between two words, if needed, is a prferred naming convention in Python, as described by Python.org documentation.
  2. A variable name must start with a letter or underscore. Preferably, you should start a variable name with letter, it is easy to read and write. For example pay is better than _pay. Use an underscore to combine two words in the variable name, like first_name and emp_pay.
  3. A python variable name cannot start with a number. For exampe, 9pay and 2count is invalid variable name. But pay9 and count1 are valid variable names in Python.
  4. Variable Names are case-sensitive. It means that pay, PAY and Pay are three different variable names.
  5. Whitespace is not allowed in a variable name. Therefore, if we write ‘first name’ ,it will be an invalid variable name. Whereas, using an _ character between two words makes it a valid variable name. Therefore,  first_name is a valid variable name.
  6. Special characters are not allowed in a variable name. For example pay@ is invalid variable name.
  7. Reserved words are not allowed as variable names. For example for is inavalid variable name, beacause for is a reserved word in Python. It represents a loop.

 Some Common Errors While Using Variable Names in Python Scripts

Python Variable Names and Naming Rules with invalid variable name errors

Python Variable Names and Naming RulesPython Variable Names and Naming Rules with invalid variable name errors

If we type a variable name with space in it, python will generate a syntax error message as shown below:

>> first name = ‘Ahmad’
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>>

Python has no objection, if we use an underscore, like:

>> first_name = ‘Ahmad’
>>>

If we start a variable name with a digit, Python will show:

>> 1count=10
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

If we assign a value 10 to a variable num. Then we write print(Count), Python will show a NameError. Since there is a difference between count and Count – variable names are case-sensitive.

>> count =10
>>> print(Count)
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “<pyshell#7>”, line 1, in <module>
print(Count)
NameError: name ‘Count’ is not defined
>>>

If we us a keyword as variable name, Python will show an error message:

>> for=10
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>>

If we use a special character like @:

> pay@ = 40000
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>>

If we use a reserved word like for:

>> for=10
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

 

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One thought on “Python Variable Names and Naming Rules

  1. Zachery Vanslooten

    There is certainly a lot to find out about this subject. I love all of the points you ave made.

    Reply

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