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In computer programming languages, an identifier is a lexical token (also called a symbol, but not to be confused with the symbol primitive data type) that names the language's entities. Some of the kinds of entities an identifier might denote include variables , data types , labels , subroutines , and modules .
An identifier is the name of an element in the code. There are certain standard naming conventions to follow when selecting names for elements. Identifiers in Java are case-sensitive. An identifier can contain: Any Unicode character that is a letter (including numeric letters like Roman numerals) or digit. Currency sign (such as ¥).
If a variable is only referenced by a single identifier, that identifier can simply be called the name of the variable; otherwise, we can speak of it as one of the names of the variable. For instance, in the previous example the identifier "total_count" is the name of the variable in question, and "r" is another name of the same variable.
A snippet of Java code with keywords highlighted in blue and bold font. In the Java programming language, a keyword is any one of 68 reserved words [1] that have a predefined meaning in the language. Because of this, programmers cannot use keywords in some contexts, such as names for variables, methods, classes, or as any other identifier. [2]
In programming languages, a label is a sequence of characters that identifies a location within source code. In most languages, labels take the form of an identifier, often followed by a punctuation character (e.g., a colon). In many high-level languages, the purpose of a label is to act as the destination of a GOTO statement.
longer identifiers may be disfavored because of visual clutter; It is an open research issue whether some programmers prefer shorter identifiers because they are easier to type, or think up, than longer identifiers, or because in many situations a longer identifier simply clutters the visible code and provides no perceived additional benefit.
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An identifier I' (for variable X') masks an identifier I (for variable X) when two conditions are met I' has the same name as I; I' is defined in a scope which is a subset of the scope of I; The outer variable X is said to be shadowed by the inner variable X'. For example, the parameter "foo" shadows the local variable "foo" in this common pattern: