One-Shot Examples

One-shot prompting provides a single example to demonstrate the expected format, style, or approach. It's often enough to dramatically improve output quality.

The Power of One Example

One example shows:

• Lowercase conversion
• Space to hyphen replacement
• Special character handling

When One-Shot Shines

One example is often sufficient for:

• Format demonstrations
• Simple transformations
• Style matching
• Pattern continuation

One-Shot Structure

Exercise: Create a One-Shot Prompt

Choosing the Right Example

Representative

Pick an example that covers common cases:

Weak example: "A" → "a" (too simple) Strong example: "iPhone 15 Pro Max" → "iphone-15-pro-max" (shows multiple transformations)

Clear Pattern

The relationship between input and output should be obvious:

Confusing: Complex example with hidden rules Clear: Example that explicitly demonstrates each rule

Similar to Actual Task

The example should resemble what you'll actually ask:

Mismatched: Short example, long actual input Matched: Similar length and complexity

Exercise: Pick the Better Example

One-Shot for Style Matching

One example is powerful for capturing voice and style:

The example establishes:

• Humorous tone
• Casual language
• Metaphor use
• Short, punchy sentences

One-Shot Limitations

One example might not be enough when:

• The task has multiple variations
• Edge cases need handling
• The pattern is complex
• Consistency across formats matters

In these cases, move to few-shot (multiple examples).

Practice: One-Shot Applications

One well-chosen example often outperforms paragraphs of instructions.