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Last active September 11, 2023 15:53
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Sensible database naming conventions.md

Sensible database naming conventions

Taken from this article:

  • Primary keys are always named id whatever the data type is.
  • Timestamps are past tense, suffixed …_at
  • Date, Time, and Datetime are not timestamps, name them freely.
  • Booleans are always positive and start with is_…
  • Numeric columns should be plural, like guesses or failures
  • Lists as JSON columns are plural, and may end with 1…_list1
  • Complex JSON trees can be named freely, but may end with …_tree
  • Foreign columns always end with …_id, like author_id
  • Foreign columns using non-id foreign columns can be suffixed as …_as_id
  • Multiple text columns may end with …_body
  • Multiple text columns for binary-encoded data may end with …_data
  • Binary columns always end with …_blob or …_binary
  • Columns for encoded data always end with …_encoded
  • Columns for encrypted data always end with …_encrypted
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