This page defines the file naming conventions used in lab repositories.

• Use descriptive filenames.
• Avoid spaces in filenames.
• Use lowercase letters.
• Separate words consistently using hyphens or underscores depending on context.

Documentation files, manuscripts, figures, tables, and other human-readable artifacts use hyphens to separate words.

Examples:

cover-letter.tex
cover-letter.pdf
review-response.tex
review-response.pdf
fig-study-basin.tex
fig-study-basin.pdf
tab-algorithms.tex
submission-docs/

Hyphens improve readability and match conventions commonly used in documentation and URLs.

Source code files use underscores to separate words.

Examples:

flow_direction.py
longest_flow_path.py
mesh_builder.cpp
grid_utils.h

Underscores are preferred because they are compatible with programming identifiers and module imports.

Generated files should normally keep the same base name as their source files.

Example:

cover-letter.tex → cover-letter.pdf

This avoids unnecessary renaming during the build process.

Some ecosystems have their own naming conventions and should follow those conventions. For example, GRASS modules follow the GRASS naming scheme.