# Few-Shot Beats Instructions When The Format Is Fussy

> Two worked examples outperform a paragraph of formatting rules.

- **Author:** [Aarav Sharma (@aarav_sharma)](https://www.promptabide.com/aarav_sharma)
- **Published:** 2026-03-08
- **Updated:** 2026-08-22
- **Tags:** `prompt-engineering`, `few-shot`, `formatting`
- **Views:** 2616
- **Likes:** 364

## Prompt

```
I spent an hour describing the exact CSV shape I wanted. Column order, quoting rules, how to escape commas inside a field, what to do with nulls. The model got it right maybe seven times in ten.

Then I deleted the whole paragraph and pasted two example rows instead. Ten out of ten, and the prompt got shorter.

**Why it works:** a format description is something the model has to reconstruct. An example is something it can pattern-match. Reconstruction is where the errors come from.

**When to still use instructions:** when the rule is about something that does *not* appear in the example — "never include rows older than 90 days" is invisible in a sample row, so it has to be stated.

**Practical rule:** examples for shape, instructions for policy.
```

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