Introduce subset_name as an alias of config_name
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I second this! When you come from the Hub, the intuitive question is "how do I set the subset name", and it's not easily answered from the docs: `subset_name` would answer this directly.
2025-06-24T12:52:48Z
https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/issues/7637#issuecomment-3000357031
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2025-06-24T12:53:03Z
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CONTRIBUTOR
I've submitted PR [#7657](https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/7657) to introduce subset_name as a user-facing alias for name in load_dataset, keeping terminology consistent with the Hub UI (“Subset”). It’s fully backward-compatible and includes a conflict check.

Let me know if you'd like me to include tests as part of the PR — happy to add them if needed!
2025-06-29T10:55:54Z
https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/issues/7637#issuecomment-3016588856
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MEMBER
The main usage is as a positional argument anyway, so I wouldn't necessarily agree that we need an alias (with the risk of confusing users). But happy to have more mentions in the docs of syntaxes like `load_dataset("dataset_name", "subset_name")`
2025-07-01T14:03:45Z
https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/issues/7637#issuecomment-3024175097
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CONTRIBUTOR
> The main usage is as a positional argument anyway, so I wouldn't necessarily agree that we need an alias (with the risk of confusing users). But happy to have more mentions in the docs of syntaxes like `load_dataset("dataset_name", "subset_name")`

Thanks @lhoestq, totally fair point — especially with positional usage being the norm. I’m happy to align with the team’s direction here. If you'd prefer, I can update this PR to shift the focus to documentation/examples (e.g., showing "subset_name" as the second arg).
2025-07-01T16:08:33Z
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### Feature request

Add support for `subset_name` as an alias for `config_name` in the datasets library and related tools (such as loading scripts, documentation, and metadata).

### Motivation

The Hugging Face Hub dataset viewer displays a column named **"Subset"**, which refers to what is currently technically called config_name in the datasets library. This inconsistency has caused confusion for many users, especially those unfamiliar with the internal terminology.

I have repeatedly received questions from users trying to understand what "config" means, and why it doesn’t match what they see as "subset" on the Hub. Renaming everything to `subset_name` might be too disruptive, but introducing subset_name as a clear alias for config_name could significantly improve user experience without breaking backward compatibility.

This change would:
- Align terminology across the Hub UI and datasets codebase
- Reduce user confusion, especially for newcomers
- Make documentation and examples more intuitive
