Jumper cables identical to regular wires? or have special purpose?

Basic jumper cables you can buy on amazon... are they any different from regular electrical wires?

There are no 'basic' jumper cables, which ones are you comparing?

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these bad boys

They are wires, yes. They are the same as "regular" wires, for the most part. But, they are also special.
Their special properties are:

  • flexible braided wires but have a solid rigid end which is easy to insert and remove from a bread board many times over and over again
  • multiple colors so that you can color-code your prototypes
  • multiple lengths but groups of specific lengths to keep your prototype wire lengths even
  • probably other things I am not thinking of

Those serve the same function as simple piece of wire.
They are a bit wobbly, but should be fine.
They are stranded jumpers which does make them flexible.

For breadboard circuits I recommend you use solid #24AWG tinned wire, lots of colours.

For pre-made wires I highly recommend DuPont jumpers.
Also found on eBay and Amazon.
These come in male/male, male/female, female/female.

See:
https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=980&bih=625&q=dupont+jumpers&oq=dupont+jumpers&gs_l=img.3...2441.8977.0.9542.15.7.0.8.8.0.85.409.6.6.0....0...1ac.1.64.img..1.13.459.0..0j35i39k1.q7SaGqfoUtU

Make your own, see:
http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=376971.0;attach=153794

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FYI

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=353064.msg2433928#main_content_section

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Make sure that when you use these particular 'jumper' wires with bread-boards is ...... try not to get the rigid ends bent while they're inserted in the holes of bread-boards. They can sometimes just snap, and leave the snapped remnant in the hole, which then can be a hassle to remove.... sometimes.