A quote may refer to any of the following:
- More appropriately called a quotation mark and alternatively known as a double quote or inverted commas, a quotation mark is a symbol ( " ) on a keyboard. It is located next to the Enter key on a US QWERTY keyboard.
Where is the quote key on the keyboard?
Below is an overview of a computer keyboard with the quote key highlighted in blue.
- Where is the quote key on the keyboard?
- How to create the quote symbol.
- What is a quote symbol used for on a computer?
- What is the other symbol on the quote key?
- Related information.
How to create the quote symbol
Creating the quote symbol on a U.S. keyboard
To create the quote symbol using a U.S. keyboard hold down the Shift and press ‘, which is on the same key as the single quote ( ’ ) and typically to the left of the Enter key.
Creating the quote symbol on a smartphone or tablet
To create a quote symbol on a smartphone or tablet open the keyboard and go into the numbers (123) or symbols (sym) section and then press your finger on the " symbol.
Doing the Alt code Alt+34 can also create a quote.
For information about creating curly quote marks, see our curly quote definition.
What is a quote symbol used for on a computer?
Quote in computer programming
In computer programming, quotes contain text or other data. For example, in the below print statement, what you’re printing to the screen is often surrounded by quotes. If surrounded by a single quote instead of a double quote, the string is treated as a literal string in many languages.
print “Hello world!”;
Quote at the command line
In a command line to recognize files or directories with spaces, they must be surrounded by quotes. For example, if you wanted to rename the file “stats baseball.doc” to “stats_baseball.doc” at the Windows command line, you could use the command below.
move “stats baseball.doc” stats_baseball.doc
Quote in HTML
Quotes are an integral part of the HTML language. Consequently, to write a quote that is not part of an HTML tag, you need to use the " special character. In the example below, the HTML page would show “example” with the quotes.
"example"
Quotes in scripting language
Quotes are also an important part of what makes other scripting and programming languages. To print the quotation mark symbols as output, you need to escape the quote. For example, below is similar to our first example, but is surrounding the printed message with quotes.
print “"Hello world!"”;
Measurement
The quote may be used when describing a measurement. For example, if someone were to say they are 5’ 9" it’s the same as saying they’re five feet nine inches.
See our single quote page for further information and examples of using a single quote.
What is the other symbol on the quote key?
On U.S. keyboards, the quote key is shared with the single quote key, which may be shown next to or below the quote symbol. To create the quote, hold down the Shift while also pressing ‘.
When describing measurements, it’s more proper to use a double prime instead of a single quote.
- When writing in HTML, the
tag formats an entire section or paragraph as a quote.
Related information
- Computer keyboard keys and explanations.
- Keyboard help and support.
When referring to a value or price, a quote is an estimated cost for a job or service. For example, you may have a computer problem and a repair shop may quote you a price on how much it would cost to repair the problem.
A quote is a famous or popular saying by someone. A listing of some of Computer Hope’s favorite quotes is on our quotes collection.
Angled quote, Back quote, Cite, Curly quotes, Keyboard terms, Magic quote, Single quote
