Quoting

InfluxQL supports both single and double quotation marks, but they each function differently and serve different purposes.

• Single quotes
• Double quotes

Single quotes

Use single quotation marks (') in the string literal and timestamp literal 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.

... WHERE room = 'Kitchen'

Double quotes

Use double quotation marks (") to quote 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.
• 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.

While not always necessary, we recommend that you double quote identifiers.

[!Important] InfluxQL quoting guidelines differ from line protocol quoting guidelines.