Best practices to use properties file

[Tiya Khambadkone]

Could you help me answer the following question ?

I have a xyz.properties file. This file contains properties like:

abc.errorcode.mkd-003.useraccount = MKD-003|123-3456-8967|FADS

where the name of the property is 'abc.errorcode.mkd-003.useraccount' and the same name is mapped to different values, so instead of creating 3 different property files like :

abc.errorcode.mkd-003.useraccount = MKD-003
abc.errorcode.mkd-003.useraccount = 123-3456-8967
abc.errorcode.mkd-003.useraccount = FADS

I've merged them into 1 file and separated using pipelines. In my code I use string.split and collect every value in an array.

So, what is the best way to handle this ? What are the pros and cons of 3 different files and pipleines method ?

Also, does a property file name should contain all lower case letters ? Which one of the following is the best practice?

abc.errorcode.mkd-003.useraccount 
abc.errorcode.MKD-003.UserAccount 
abc.errorcode.MKD-003.useraccount 

I have posted the question on another website as well. Here is the link : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/43188437/property-files-best-practices

[Jesper de Jong]

Properties must have a unique key (the part before the =). You cannot have three properties with the same key.

There is no reason why a properties file should only have lower-case letters, and this isn't a best practice either.

[Tiya Khambadkone]

Thanks. Any other best practices?

[Tiya Khambadkone]

Do you know when to use a property files?
What if there are 100 properties in a property file? In this case go for a property file or anything else ?

[Tim Moores]

100 properties is not a whole lot. I've seen files hundreds of KB big, although I would not call that a best practice, either.