QUOTE_IDENT function

The QUOTE_IDENT function returns the specified string as a string with a leading double quotation mark and a trailing double quotation mark. The function output can be used as an identifier in a SQL statement. The function appropriately doubles any embedded double quotation marks.

QUOTE_IDENT adds double quotation marks only where necessary to create a valid identifier, when the string contains non-identifier characters or would otherwise be folded to lowercase. To always return a single-quoted string, use QUOTE_LITERAL.

Syntax

QUOTE_IDENT(string)

Argument

Return type

The QUOTE_IDENT function returns the same type of string as the input string.

Examples

To return the string "CAT" with doubled quotation marks, use the following example.

SELECT QUOTE_IDENT('"CAT"');

+-------------+
| quote_ident |
+-------------+
| """CAT"""   |
+-------------+

The following example uses data from the CATEGORY table in the TICKIT sample database. For more information, see Sample database.

To return the CATNAME column surrounded by quotation marks, use the following example.

SELECT catid, QUOTE_IDENT(catname)
FROM category
ORDER BY 1,2;

+-------+-------------+
| catid | quote_ident |
+-------+-------------+
|     1 | "MLB"       |
|     2 | "NHL"       |
|     3 | "NFL"       |
|     4 | "NBA"       |
|     5 | "MLS"       |
|     6 | "Musicals"  |
|     7 | "Plays"     |
|     8 | "Opera"     |
|     9 | "Pop"       |
|    10 | "Jazz"      |
|    11 | "Classical" |
+-------+-------------+