Naming conventions for data files in major economic information releases
This page explains our file naming conventions and provides examples of our file names for the main CSV and Excel files available to download from our top four economic information releases: balance of payments, consumers price index, gross domestic product, and labour market statistics.
We use naming conventions to provide consistent, informative, and recognisable information about the data files.
We began using the updated naming conventions on 13 March 2023. Examples below use the updated conventions and do not necessarily reflect published file names.
Conventions we use
File names reflect the full title of the relevant information release, including the time period it covers, with no capital letters, and words separated by hyphens. If there are additional details about the file, they follow the same format.
The file type is a conventional abbreviation applied as a suffix by the software used to produce the file ‒ shown following a full stop at the end of the file name. For example, .xlsx means Excel and .csv is a comma-separated values file.
If a file changes after publication, we reflect this in the file and display names, for example, adding ‘corrected’ or ‘updated’ before the suffix.
Display names
Display names are the text that displays as the link to each file.
Our convention is to use capital letters and punctuation in display names to reflect the release title, time period, and file type for CSV files. Sometimes it includes other information that’s included in the file name.
Display name example
Examples for our economic releases
Balance of payments and international investment position – file and display names
CSV file name: balance-of-payments-and-international-investment-position-september-2022-quarter.csv
Display name: Balance of payments and international investment position: September 2022 quarter – CSV
Excel file name: balance-of-payments-and-international-investment-position-september-2022-quarter.xlsx
Display name: Balance of payments and international investment position: September 2022 quarter
Consumers price index ‒ file and display names
CSV file name: consumers-price-index-december-2022-quarter-infoshare-data.csv
Display name: Consumers price index: December 2022 quarter – Infoshare data – CSV
Excel file name: consumers-price-index-december-2022-quarter.xlsx
Display name: Consumers price index: December 2022 quarter
Gross domestic product – file and display names
CSV file name: gross-domestic-product-september-2022-quarter.csv
Display name: Gross domestic product: September 2022 quarter – CSV
Excel file name: gross-domestic-product-september-2022-quarter.xlsx
Display name: Gross domestic product: September 2022 quarter
Labour market statistics – file and display names
CSV file name (labour market statistics) (note this is a zip file): labour-market-statistics-september-2022-quarter.zip
Display name (note the zip is shown as an icon accompanying the link): Labour market statistics: September 2022 quarter – CSV
Excel file name (household labour force): household-labour-force-survey-september-2022-quarter.xlsx
Display name: Household labour force survey: September 2022 quarter
Excel file name (quarterly employment): quarterly-employment-survey-september-2022-quarter.xlsx
Display name: Quarterly employment survey: September 2022 quarter
Excel file name (salary and wages): labour-cost-index-salary-and-wage-rates-september-2022-quarter.xlsx
Display name: Labour cost index (salary and wage rates): September 2022 quarter
File names in other information releases and publications
We try to follow these naming conventions for all our downloadable files but sometimes need to use abbreviations in file names so our content management system can publish them.
Example of abbreviations in file name for National accounts (income, saving, assets, and liabilities): June 2022 quarter
CSV file name: na-isal-june-2022-qtr-consolidated-accounts.csv
Display name: National accounts (income, saving, assets, and liabilities): June 2022 quarter – consolidated accounts – CSV
Excel file name: na-isal-june-2022-qtr--consolidated-accounts-actuals.xlsx
Display name: National accounts (income, saving, assets, and liabilities): June 2022 quarter – consolidated accounts (actuals)
