Identifiers

Identifiers are names used to reference models, enums, operations, properties, and other entities in TypeSpec. Understanding identifier rules is essential for writing valid TypeSpec code.

Identifier syntax rules

An identifier must follow these rules:

• Start with: A letter (a-z, A-Z), emoji, underscore (_), or dollar sign ($)
• Followed by: Any combination of letters, numbers (0-9), emoji, underscores, or dollar signs
• Length: One or more characters

TypeSpec implements UAX31-R1b stable identifiers with the emoji profile, providing full Unicode support for international characters.

Examples

• ✅ cat
• ✅ Dog
• ✅ _Item2
• ✅ $money$
• ✅ 🎉
• ✅ 🚀
• ❌ 1cat
• ❌ *dog

Escaping identifiers

When you need to use reserved keywords or invalid identifiers, TypeSpec provides an escaping mechanism using backticks (`). This allows you to use:

• Reserved keywords as identifiers
• Identifiers that don’t follow normal syntax rules
• Identifiers with special characters or unusual formats

Examples

model `enum` {}
model `interface` {}
op `import`(): void;
model `123InvalidName` {}
model `my-special-model` {}
model `User Profile` {}