This issue is meant to keep track of awkwardly named or deprecated methods, properties and signals that we would like to rename next time we have the opportunity.

This can't be done lightly as it breaks compatibility for users using their old names, so any such change has to be done:

• either after following a deprecation procedure: marked as deprecated - using it shows a warning - for at least one full minor release cycle (e.g. 3.1.x), then removed in a future minor or major version bump,
• or within a major compatibility breaking release (such as 3.0 was to 2.1; but such situations won't happen often - if ever again - so the deprecation workflow should be preferred).

To properly deprecate methods, properties and signals, we need #4397 implemented.

A 🎉 reaction added by @akien-mga or @Calinou means the suggestion in the comment was incorporated into this post.

Classes

- [ ] OS* could be renamed to Platform* #16863 (comment) (See #47789 (comment))
- [ ] Label: Consider renaming to TextLabel #16863 (comment) (see #40124 (comment))

• PHashTranslation should be renamed to CompressedTranslation OptimizedTranslation (matching its header) PR:Rename PHashTranslation to OptimizedTranslation #45234
• ResourceFormat*: review all classes inheriting ResourceFormatLoader, ResourceFormatSaver and ImageFormatLoader to check that they follow the same naming convention (both class and filename)
• ShortCut should be renamed to Shortcut [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Rename ShortCut to Shortcut which is more grammatically correct #41926
• TCP_Server and IP_Unix should be renamed to TCPServer and IPUnix PR:Rename IP_Unix, IP_Address and TCP_Server to remove underscores #37700
• Viewport should be looked over, it is very complex and could likely be simplified [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)

Methods

• @GDScript (and several other places): instance when used as a verb/action should be instantiate [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Rename instance()->instantiate() when it's a verb #49693
• @GDscript: decimals should be renamed to step_decimals Make "decimal" functions more consistent #21425
• @GDscript: stepify should be renamed to snapped for consistency with vectors [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Rename Math::stepify to snapped #44586
• AcceptDialog and ConfirmationDialog: get_ok and get_cancel should be get_ok_button and get_cancel_button (matching WindowDialog.get_close_button) [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Rename AcceptDialog get_ok() to get_ok_button() #44389
• AnimatedSprite2D and AnimatedSprite3D: stop should be pause Rename the method stop() to pause() in AnimatedSprite. #31168 PR:Implement AnimatedSprite pause() and resume() #44369
• Animation: track_remove_key_at_position should be track_remove_key_at_time PR:Rename Animation::track_remove_key_at_position to track_remove_key_at_time #44372
• AnimationPlayer: play_backwards could be removed [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Implement AnimationPlayer pause() and resume() #44345
• Area: set_audio_bus and get_audio_bus should be renamed to set_audio_bus_name and get_audio_bus_name to match the related property and their Area2D counterparts Area2D and Area use same functions, but with different names #29670 PR:Rename Area3D audio_bus_name getter and setter #44260
• Array (some changes also apply to PackedArrays) [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment):
  • Rename remove to remove_at (remove by index) to avoid ambiguity
  • Rename erase to remove_value (remove by value) to avoid ambiguity
  • Rename invert to reverse to use more established naming PR:Rename Array.invert() to Array.reverse() #46991
  • Rename duplicate to clone to use more established naming (See Rename Array, Dictionary and Variant.duplicate() to copy() #46996 (comment))
  • Rename empty to is_empty to clearly indicate it's a boolean check and not an operation emptying the array PR:Rename empty() to is_empty() #44401
• Camera: set_znear and set_zfar should be renamed to match the near and far properties [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Rename Camera3D near and far getters and setters #44434
• Control: Discrepancy between property names and their setter/getter names [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Rename Control getters and setters to match properties #47248
• CollisionShape: make_convex_from_brothers should be make_convex_from_siblings [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Implement CollisionShape3D.make_convex_from_siblings() #41044
• EditorInterface: get_editor_viewport could be get_editor_main_screen [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) + 2 following comments PR:Rename EditorInterface get_editor_viewport to get_editor_main_control #44524
• GridMap: set_cell_item (3 ints) should be replaced by a version with Vector3i Update GridMap to use Vector3i instead of three ints #39958
• InputMap: load_from_globals should be load_from_project_settings [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:load_from_globals() -> load_from_project_settings() #43661
• ItemList: unselect and unselect_all should be deselect and deselect_all, matching other classes with similar methods. There's also deselect_items in FileDialog, harmonize this ItemList.unselect() should be ItemList.deselect() #28558 PR:Rename unselect to deselect #44569
• JSON: print should be rename to something else [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) + the following 6 comments PR:Rename JSON::print() to to_json() #44574 Consolidate JSON, JSONParseResults and JSONParser into JSON #44806
• KinematicBody and KinematicBody2D: The API grew organically and is becoming quite convoluted, a refactor/reorder of some method arguments might be welcome (see e.g. Improved kinematic body, Now can move rigid body #16757 API compatibility broken for KinematicBody and KinematicBody2D #19648).
• MainLoop: _iteration should be renamed to _physics_process, _idle should be _process. Non virtual methods should be unexposed, and input_text does nothing and should be removed doc: Proofread and complete various nodes #30096 PR:Rename MainLoop methods to match Node methods #44593
  - [ ] Mesh: surface_get_material -> get_surface_material and surface_set_material -> set_surface_material [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) See [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)
• Node: get_index and get_position_in_parent are synonyms, one should be removed Node get_position_in_parent() and get_index() do the same #21802 Remove Node.get_position_in_parent() #37556
• Node: is_a_parent_of should be replaced by is_ancestor_of or is_descendant_of [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)
• Node: set_as_toplevel could be set_as_top_level, but its behavior may also need tweaking [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) set_as_toplevel() affects child nodes as well #24154 Renamed toplevel to be top_level #42451
• Node2D and Node3D: Inconsistency with object-local translation code [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)
  - [ ] OptionButton: get_selected_id might be obsolete after OptionButton fix remove and select #21837 See [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)
• OS: can_draw would be better suited in the Engine singleton
• OS: execute should be split in two different methods, one blocking and the other non-blocking.
  e.g. names: execute/exec_process (blocking) and spawn_process (non-blocking) Split OS.execute into blocking and non-blocking method #19302 PR:Split OS::execute into two methods #44514
• Physics (various classes): add_force and apply_impulse methods need harmonization of their arguments order [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Refactor physics force and impulse code to use (force, position) order #37350
• Quat: Consider deprecating set methods [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)
• Rect2: Rename clip to intersection for consistency with AABB. [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PRs: Rename Rect2 and Rect2i clip() to intersection() #44521 Update Rect intersection documentation, and rename method on Mono #44582
• RichTextLabel: set_use_bbcode and set_bbcode should be renamed to set_use_fixed_bbcode and set_fixed_bbcode. Warnings should be thrown if bbcode is modified by another function Fix RichTextLabel bug which clears its content when theme changed #19118
• Skeleton: set_bone_global_pose should be renamed to set_bone_skeleton_pose (same for the getter). get_bone_transform should also be renamed, or dropped if unnecessary Skeleton::get_bone_global_pose function should be renamed #19551
• Sprite, Sprite3D: set_region and is_region should be renamed to set_region_enabled and is_region_enabled [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Rename Sprite.region_enabled getter and setter methods to match properties #47001
• String: ord_at considered unclear, proposal to rename it to unicode_at Rename String::ord_at to String::unicode_at #15519 PR: Renamed String.ord_at to unicode_at #43790
• String: right behaviour is unintuitive and mostly duplicate of substr [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR: Fix String.right(count) not returning the last count characters of a string #47434 Change behavior of String.right #36180
• String: Rename http_escape to uri_encode, http_unescape to uri_decode [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Unify URI encoding/decoding, handle spaces-are-pluses, and handle hex/bin prefix automatically #43978
• String: Rename empty to is_empty PR: Rename empty() to is_empty() #44401
• Texture2D: get_data should be get_image [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR: Rename Texture.get_data() to get_image() #47435
• TileMap: set_y_sort_mode and is_y_sort_mode_enabled should be renamed to set_y_sort_enabled and is_y_sort_enabled [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Rename various TileMap methods/properties for clarity and consistency #38635
• TileMap: Discrepancy between property names and their setter/getter names [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)
• TileMap: set_cell (2 ints) and set_cellv (Vector2) should be replaced by a version with Vector2i Update TileMap to use Vector2i #39976
• Tree: get_selected should be renamed to something like get_active [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)
• Tween: Many methods return bool for no reason, should be changed to void [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Removed boolean return type from majority of method in Tween #36844
• UndoRedo: is_commiting_action has a typo, should be "committing"
• VisualServer: sync and draw bindings should be deprecated in favour of the existing force_sync and force_draw Added all missing VisualServer bindings #15892
• Vector2: tangent is considered ambiguous/inaccurate, it should be perpendicular [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR: Renamed Vector2.tangent to perpendicular #39685 or Rename Vector2.tangent() to Vector2.orthogonal() #44149
• XRPositionalTracker: get_type -> get_tracker_type and get_name -> get_tracker_name [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Multiple C# classes hiding inherited members in GodotSharp #15763 (comment) Unhide hidden members by renaming them and rebind Mesh enums #36382 [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)

Properties

• BoxShape, CubeMesh and CSGBox: their dimension properties are inconsistent, and CubeMesh should maybe be renamed to BoxMesh [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Rename CubeMesh to BoxMesh #44091 and Use a size Vector for adjusting the size of Rectangles and Boxes #44183
• Camera2D: offset and offset_h/offset_v are confusingly named as they refer to completely different things. It should likely be harmonized with Camera too which has h_offset and v_offset [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Camera2D offset issues #7489 PR:Rename Camera2D offset_h and offset_v properties #44232
• Camera2D: limit_ values could be changed to a Rect2i or similar [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)
• Control: Rename margin to offset now that they can be negative? [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Rename Control margin to offset #44605
• Control: rect_rotation is in degrees, so it should be renamed to rect_rotation_degrees to match Node2D's rotation_degrees, and a new rect_rotation property should be added which uses radians. PR:Rename Control rotation to rotation_degrees #44607
  - [ ] CPUParticles2D: Rename normalmap to normal_map for consistency [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Removed as part of Refactored 2D shader and lighting system #43052
• Engine: Rename iterations_per_second to physics_fps to match the project setting of the same name [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Rename iterations_per_second to physics_ticks_per_second #41956
• ImageTexture: lossy_quality should be changed to an enum (low, mid, high, etc.) instead of a float ratio interpreted as arbitrary plateaus (same in Image::compress()) Support higher-quality S3TC compression modes #21167 (comment)
• LightOccluder2D: light_mask -> occluder_light_mask [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Multiple C# classes hiding inherited members in GodotSharp #15763 (comment) Unhide hidden members by renaming them and rebind Mesh enums #36382
• Label and Button: clip_text is not necessary anymore, as all Controls have rect/clip_content Fix Label autowrap clips text #20228
• LineEdit: cursor_* properties should be renamed to caret_* LineEdit caret blink method name #16116 PR:Rename LineEdit getters and setters to match property names #47448
• LineEdit and TextEdit: Their respective APIs could be homogenized as far as possible [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Why are LineEdit and TextEdit two separate nodes? #20611
• Node2D, Spatial: inconsistency between position (2D) and translation (3D) Rename "translation" to "position" in Spatial? #9128 PR:Rename Node3D's property translation to position #44198
• NoiseTexture: Rename as_normalmap to as_normal_map for consistency [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Consistently use normal_map #44614
• RayCast: Rename cast_to to target_position [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)
• RayCast and others: Change disabled properties to enabled ones [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) + the following 2 comments PR:Change physics disabled booleans to enabled #44141
• Resource: resource_name is not used, should be dropped Script.resource_name always contains blank string #13358
• TileMap: collision_friction property should be renamed to friction Rename collision_friction to friction in TileMap #18191

Signals

• CanvasItem: hide should be renamed to hidden PR:Rename CanvasItem's hide signal to hidden #44189
• Tabs: tab_close and tab_hover should be spelled tab_closed and tab_hovered PR:Rename Tabs close and hover signals to tab_closed and tab_hovered #44188
• Tree: item_activated (label double-click) and item_double_clicked (icon double-click), names don't properly convey what they do Tree's "item_activated" and "item_double_clicked" signals #16839: PR:Rename tree item double-click signal to match the actual behaviour #44185
• XRController: button_release should be spelled button_released (like button_pressed) PR:Rename XRController signal button_release to button_released #44184

Enums

• ArrayMesh: ArrayType enum is a duplicate, delete it [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Multiple C# classes hiding inherited members in GodotSharp #15763 (comment) Unhide hidden members by renaming them and rebind Mesh enums #36382
• CPUParticles: Flags enum -> ParticleFlags [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Multiple C# classes hiding inherited members in GodotSharp #15763 (comment) Unhide hidden members by renaming them and rebind Mesh enums #36382
• Mesh: BlendShapeMode enum is only used by ArrayMesh, so give to ArrayMesh [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) Multiple C# classes hiding inherited members in GodotSharp #15763 (comment) Unhide hidden members by renaming them and rebind Mesh enums #36382
• Viewport: ClearMode and UpdateMode enums should use the same suffixes (Align naming of Viewport Clear Mode and Update Mode Enums #19404) PR:Rename Viewport::ClearMode::CLEAR_MODE_ONLY_NEXT_FRAME to CLEAR_MODE_ONCE #44267
• XRPositionalTracker: TRACKER_LEFT_HAND -> TRACKER_HAND_LEFT etc [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Rename TrackerHand enums #44261
• Rename the ButtonList enum to MouseButton [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Rename many global enums relating to input #38054

Constants

• Global Scope: PROPERTY_USAGE_STORE_IF_NONZERO and PROPERTY_USAGE_STORE_IF_NONONE should be fully dropped, also from GDNative Remove obsolete enums #37693

Theme items

• ItemList, LineEdit, RichTextLabel, TextEdit and Tree: font_color_selected should be renamed to font_selected_color to match other _color properties. TextEdit: Correct typo that broke custom selected font color #30018 PR:Change themes font_color_selected to font_selected_color #44194

Objects

• CapsuleShape should be vertical by default Changed default capsule axis to vertical #36488

Shading language

• WORLD_MATRIX is actually a model-view matrix and should be renamed. @reduz suggests to replace it (and CAMERA_MATRIX, which is a view matrix) by actual view and model matrices, e.g. CANVAS_MATRIX and ITEM_MATRIX.

Project settings

• display/window/size/test_width and test_height should be renamed to window_width and window_height. We should also consider renaming the width and height settings, maybe render_width and render_height. [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment) PR:Rename Project Settings, Display, Window width and height, and test_width and test_height settings to match their function #47522

File formats

• Discuss what we want to do with custom binary resource extensions (RES_BASE_EXTENSION) [TRACKER] Methods, properties and signals to consider for renaming in next planned compatibility breakage #16863 (comment)