Is python Case sensitive when dealing with identifiers?

Introduction

Python is a highly popular programming language. The programming language follows its own set of rules or grammar and conventions for naming its identifiers. A query that often pops up for novice programmers is whether Python is a case-sensitive language while dealing with identifiers.

The article below will help you know is python case sensitive when dealing with identifiers.

Rules for Identifiers in Python

While naming identifiers in Python, specific rules are to be followed that state the use of characters, case of letters, capitalization, and reserved words.

Python has a total of 35 reserved keywords (Ex. "If", "else", "def", "while", "for", etc.) that are used to define the syntax of the programming language. These unique words cannot be used as names for identifiers.
All identifiers declared in the same scope should be distinct.
While naming identifiers, you can use a combination of lowercase characters (a-z), uppercase case characters (A-Z), digits (0-9), and underscore characters (_).
Names of identifiers in Python are case-sensitive. Ex. "myPet" and "mypet" are different.
Special characters like "@, $, %, &, *, #" are not allowed in identifier names.
An identifier name must start with a non-numeric character. That is, the underscore can be the first character of an identifier name.
The identifier name can be of any length.

You can also practice with the help of Online Python Compiler

Ninja's Toolkit for Naming Identifiers in Python

Certain naming conventions are to be followed while naming identifiers in Python to make the code more readable.

For class names

Class names in Python should always begin with an uppercase letter.
Class names follow camelcase. That means the first letter of each word of the identifier should be capitalized.
Ex. MyClass

For package names

Package names should be in lowercase.
It is recommended to avoid using underscores
Ex. math

For constants

While naming a constant, all letters should be in uppercase
An underscore can be used as a separator for words
Ex. My_CONSTANT

For private variables

Use underscores at the beginning of the private variables.
Ex. _str

Miscellaneous

For boolean identifiers, it is recommended to begin the function name with is followed by an underscore and then the function name. Ex. is_Prime().
Identifier names should be small, concise, and meaningful.

Example of Python Identifiers

The below identifiers are valid as they follow the naming conventions of Python.

myNum = 101 // variable name follows camelCase
my_str = “Hello” // variable name follows snake_case
MY_CONST = 10 // variable name uses all capital letters, which is used for constants
MYVAR = True // variable name uses all capital letters, which is used for constants
class MyClass: // follows the naming convention of classes

The below identifiers are not valid in Python as they didn’t follow the naming conventions.

MyStr = "Ninja"// variable name uses camelcase but begins with a capital letter
mynum = 3.14 // variable name uses all lowercase letters, which are not recommended in Python
class my_class: // violates naming convention
for = 5 // for is a reserved keyword in Python.

Following the naming convention makes the code more readable and maintainable.

Check out this article - Quicksort Python

Frequently Asked Questions

Are identifiers case-sensitive?

Yes, Python is a case-sensitive language, so identifiers are case-sensitive. That is, it considers uppercase and lowercase characters differently. The property is useful while naming identifiers to make the code more readable and maintainable.

Are Python identifiers case-sensitive if the language is strongly typed?

In a strongly typed language, the type of a variable matters when executing operations on it. Strong or weak typing has nothing to do with case sensitivity. So, Python identifiers are case-sensitive even if the language is strongly typed.

Is key value case-sensitive?

Yes, the key value is also case-sensitive language in python. Here we are talking about dictionary keys in Python. However, it is possible that can also implement insensitive keys in Python.

Conclusion

Kudos, Ninja, on successfully completing this reading journey! Now we can conclude Python is a case-sensitive language. We hope this blog has helped you resolve your doubts and enlightened you about the proper ways to deal with identifiers in Python.

Keep learning! We recommend you go through some of our other Python-related articles.:

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