In Python, variable names must follow certain rules to be valid. Here are the general rules for naming variables in Python:
- Variables can only contain letters (both uppercase and lowercase), digits, and underscores (_).
- Variables cannot begin with a digit. They must begin with a letter or an underscore.
- Variable names are case-sensitive, meaning that “myVar” and “myvar” are two different variables.
- Python has a set of reserved keywords that cannot be used as variable names, such as “if,” “else,” “for,” “while,” etc.
- Variable names should be descriptive and meaningful, and should not be too long or too short.
Examples of valid variable names in Python:
my_var = 10
myVar = 20
_abc123 = "hello"
Examples of invalid variable names in Python:
1abc = 10 # variable cannot begin with a digit
my-var = 20 # variable cannot contain hyphens
for = 30 # "for" is a reserved keyword and cannot be used as a variable name