docs-v2/content/influxdb/clustered/reference/influxql/quoting.md

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---
title: Quotation
description: >
Single quotation marks (`'`) are used in the string literal syntax.
Double quotation marks (`"`) are used to quote identifiers.
menu:
influxdb_clustered:
name: Quotation
identifier: influxql-quotation
parent: influxql-reference
weight: 214
list_code_example: |
```sql
-- String literal
'I am a string'
-- Quoted identifier
"this-is-an-identifier"
```
---
InfluxQL supports both single and double quotation marks, but they each function
differently and serve different purposes.
- [Single quotes](#single-quotes)
- [Double quotes](#double-quotes)
## Single quotes
Use single quotation marks (`'`) in the
[string literal](/influxdb/clustered/reference/influxql/#strings) and
[timestamp literal](/influxdb/clustered/reference/influxql/#dates--times) syntax.
In the following example, the `WHERE` clause evaluates the value of the `room` tag.
Tags only contain string values, so the right operand of the predicate expression
should be a string literal.
```sql
... WHERE room = 'Kitchen'
```
## Double quotes
Use double quotation marks (`"`) to quote [identifiers](/influxdb/clustered/reference/influxql/#identifiers).
Identifiers **must** be double-quoted in the following cases:
- The identifier contains non-word characters.
Word characters are defined as `[a-z,A-Z,0-9,_]`.
- The identifier is case-sensitive.
- The identifier contains [InfluxQL keywords](/influxdb/clustered/reference/influxql/#keywords).
- The identifier begins with a digit.
Double-quoted identifiers can also:
- Contain any Unicode character except for a new line.
- Contain escaped `"` characters (for example: `\"`).
- Include [InfluxQL keywords](/influxdb/clustered/reference/influxql/#keywords).
**While not always necessary, we recommend that you double quote identifiers.**
{{% note %}}
InfluxQL quoting guidelines differ from
[line protocol quoting guidelines](/influxdb/clustered/reference/syntax/line-protocol/#quotes).
{{% /note %}}