intermediateChapter 7 of 12
Using Examples (Few-Shot Prompting)
Few-shot prompting · Example selection · Format consistency through examples
Show, Don't Just Tell
Examples are one of the most reliable ways to steer Claude's output format, tone, and structure. A few well-crafted examples — known as few-shot prompting — can dramatically improve accuracy and consistency.
How to Structure Examples
Wrap examples in <example> tags so Claude can distinguish them from instructions:
Classify the email into a category. Here are some examples:
<example>
Email: "Do you ship internationally?"
Category: Pre-sale question
</example>
<example>
Email: "My order arrived broken."
Category: Broken or defective item
</example>
Now classify this email:
<email>{NEW_EMAIL}</email>
Best Practices
- 3-5 examples hit the sweet spot for most tasks.
- Make examples diverse — cover different categories, edge cases, and tones.
- Make examples consistent — use the exact output format you want.
- Wrap them in
<example>tags so Claude knows they're demonstrations, not instructions.
Key Takeaways
- Few-shot examples are the most reliable way to lock in a specific output format.
- Diverse examples prevent Claude from overfitting to one pattern.
- The format of your examples becomes the format of the output.