Guides/Snake_case vs kebab-case

Snake_case vs kebab-case

Both styles replace spaces with a separator and usually lowercase every word. The separator is the difference: underscore (_) vs hyphen (-).

What they look like

• snake_case: hello_world_example
• kebab-case: hello-world-example
• Same words; different glue. Neither is “more correct” — context decides.

When to use snake_case

• Python variables and functions (PEP 8 style).
• Many database column names and some API JSON fields.
• File names in communities that prefer underscores.

When to use kebab-case

• URL slugs: /guides/snake-case-vs-kebab-case
• CSS class names and many HTML data attributes.
• Package names on some registries; readable multi-word paths.

Worked examples

1. Input: Hello World Example Text
   snake_case → hello_world_example_text
   kebab-case → hello-world-example-text
2. API field vs CSS: user_count in JSON;user-count as a class is fine if your team agrees.
3. URL: prefer kebab-case over spaces or underscores for public web paths (hyphens are the web norm).

Common mistakes

• Putting spaces or camelCase in URLs when a kebab slug was expected.
• Mixing separators in one codebase (user_id next to user-name without a rule).
• Using hyphens in languages where - means minus (Python identifiers cannot be kebab-case).

Convert instantly

Paste into the freeCase Converterand tap snake_case or kebab-case. For headline casing, seetitle case vs sentence case.

Related:Title vs sentence case·camelCase vs PascalCase·Word Counter