tunnusmerkiksi

tunnusmerkiksi is a Finnish linguistic construct used primarily in computer science and programming to denote a character, or a sequence of characters, that may appear in an identifier. An identifier is a name chosen by a programmer for variables, functions, classes, or other program elements. The term literally means “as an identifier” and is often applied when specifying the set of permissible characters in an identifier according to the rules of a particular programming language.

In many programming languages, the set of tunnusmerkiksi is defined by a combination of alphabetic letters, digits, and underscore (or other special characters). For example, in the C family of languages an identifier may start with a letter or underscore but cannot start with a digit. In contrast, modern languages such as Python and JavaScript allow Unicode letters as tunnusmerkiksi, enabling identifiers in many different scripts.

When designing a compiler or interpreter, tokenizers use tunnusmerkiksi specifications to separate identifiers from reserved keywords, operators, and literals. The lexer typically scans input characters, grouping consecutive tunnusmerkiksi into a token and then classifying it according to the language’s grammar.

Because tunnusmerkiksi rules affect name resolution, readability, and internationalization, many programming language specifications and coding standards provide explicit guidelines on acceptable tunnusmerkiksi ranges. For example, the Unicode Standard’s General Category field (Lu, Ll, Lt, Lm, Lo, Nd) is often referenced to construct language‑agnostic tunnusmerkiksi sets.