Question: Can colons and special characters be used in DynamoDB attributes?
Answered by Rafal Wilinski
Answer
Colons and special characters can be used in DynamoDB attribute names, but some restrictions exist. Attribute names cannot contain the following characters:
- forward slash (/)
- backslash ()
- period (.)
- pound sign (#)
- tilde (~)
- curly braces ({})
- angle brackets (<>)
Additionally, attribute names must start with a letter and can only contain letters, numbers, and the following characters: _ (underscore), - (hyphen), and . (dot).
Other Common DynamoDB FAQ (with Answers)
- How do I create an id in DynamoDB?
- Can we pass objects as an item in DynamoDB?
- What are the best alternatives to DynamoDB?
- Can we store list in DynamoDB?
- What are the naming conventions in DynamoDB?
- Will I be charged for DynamoDB is it is inactive?
- Are DynamoDB table names supposed to be unique?
- Can DynamoDB have duplicates?
- Is it possible to make a DynamoDB table case insensitive?
- How to track changes to items in DynamoDB?
- Is DynamoDB open source?
- Are DynamoDB table names globally unique?
- Can DynamoDB trigger AWS Step Functions?
- What is the access pattern in DynamoDB?
- What are the differences between DynamoDB and MySQL?
Dynobase is a Professional GUI Client for DynamoDB
Start your 7-day free trial today
Product Features
DynamoDB Tools
DynamoDB Info
© 2026 Dynobase