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# identifier

noun (an identifier, identifiers)

«identifier» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A name, number, label or sign that shows exactly who or what something is. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/identifier/#m1)
2. (computing) A name given to something in a program, such as a variable or function name, so the computer can tell them apart. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/identifier/#m2)

### In the lessons

In computing lessons, identifiers are the names you give variables, like «score» or «lives»; they usually cannot have spaces or start with a number. In everyday life, a barcode, a passport number, a username or a pupil number is an identifier. In science, features of a plant can act as identifiers. Phrases: unique identifier, user identifier, a variable identifier.

### Examples

- Each library book has a barcode as its identifier. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/identifier/#x1)
- In Scratch we used «score» as the identifier for our variable. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/identifier/#x2)
- Your username is an identifier, but your password must stay secret. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/identifier/#x3)
- A unique identifier means no two things share it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/identifier/#x4)
- The spots on its back are a good identifier for this ladybird. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/identifier/#x5)
- The program gave an error because the identifier had a space in it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/identifier/#x6)

### Note

Countable noun. Verb: «identify»; «identifier» is the thing that identifies. A unique identifier belongs to just one thing; a name like «Sam» is not unique, but a passport number is. In programming, identifiers are case sensitive in many languages: «Score» and «score» can be different.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «identifier» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/I/identifier/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«identifier» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/identifier.html) on Mova free.