An identifier is a name that identifies (that is, labels the identity of) either a unique object or a unique class of objects, where the "object" or class may be an idea, physical countable object (or class thereof), or physical mass noun substance (or class thereof). The abbreviation ID often refers to identity, identification (the process of identifying), or an identifier (that is, an instance of identification). An identifier may be a word, number, letter, symbol, or any combination of those.
The words, numbers, letters, or symbols may follow an code (wherein letters, digits, words, or symbols stand for represent ideas or longer names) or they may simply be arbitrary. When an identifier follows an encoding system, it is often referred to as a code or ID code. For instance the ISO/IEC 11179 metadata registry standard defines a code as system of valid symbols that substitute for longer values in contrast to identifiers without symbolic meaning. Identifiers that do not follow any encoding scheme are often said to be arbitrary IDs; they are arbitrarily assigned and have no greater meaning. (Sometimes identifiers are called "codes" even when they are actually arbitrary, whether because the speaker believes that they have deeper meaning or simply because they are speaking casually and imprecisely.)
The unique identifier ( UID) is an identifier that refers to only one instance—only one particular object in the universe. A part number is an identifier, but it is not a unique identifier—for that, a serial number is needed, to identify each instance of the part design. Thus the identifier "Model T" identifies the class (model) of automobiles that Ford's Model T comprises; whereas the unique identifier "Model T Serial Number 159,862" identifies one specific member of that class—that is, one particular Model T car, owned by one specific person.
The concepts of name and identifier are denotation equal, and the terms are thus denotatively ; but they are not always connotation synonymous, because and ID numbers are often connotatively distinguished from names in the sense of traditional natural language naming. For example, both "Jamie Zawinski" and "Netscape employee number 20" are identifiers for the same specific human being; but normal English-language connotation may consider "Jamie Zawinski" a "name" and not an "identifier", whereas it considers "Netscape employee number 20" an "identifier" but not a "name." This is an emic indistinction rather than an etic one.
ID codes may inherently carry metadata along with them. For example, when you know that the food package in front of you has the identifier "2011-09-25T15:42Z-MFR5-P02-243-45", you not only have that data, you also have the metadata that tells you that it was packaged on September 25, 2011, at 3:42pm UTC, manufactured by Licensed Vendor Number 5, at the Peoria, IL, USA plant, in Building 2, and was the 243rd package off the line in that shift, and was inspected by Inspector Number 45.
Arbitrary identifiers might lack metadata. For example, if a food package just says 100054678214, its ID may not tell anything except identity—no date, manufacturer name, production sequence rank, or inspector number. In some cases, arbitrary identifiers such as sequential serial numbers leak information (i.e. the German tank problem). Opaque identifiers—identifiers designed to avoid leaking even that small amount of information—include "really " and Version 4 UUIDs.
The inverse is also possible, where multiple resources are represented with the same identifier (discussed below).
international (via ISV) |
Australian |
U.S. and NATO |
originated in U.S.; today international (via ISV) |
originated in U.S.; today international |
Handle System Namespace, international scope |
originated in Germany; today international |
originated in E.U.; may be seen internationally |
U.S. |
international |
international |
many scopes, e.g., specific computer systems |
international |
ISBN is part of the EAN Namespace; international scope |
international |
international |
international |
U.S., with some international bibliographic usefulness |
many scopes, e.g., banks, governments |
Denmark |
Many different systems |
U.S., with some international bibliographic usefulness |
many scopes, e.g., company-specific, government-specific |
U.S. |
Australian |
international |
Higher educational institution verification code |
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