Sometimes known as an apostrophe, a single quote is a punctuation mark found on the United States QWERTY keyboard next to the Enter key.

Where is the single quote key on the keyboard?

Below is an overview of a computer keyboard with the single quote key highlighted in blue.

  • Where is the single quote key on the keyboard?
  • How to create the single quote symbol.
  • What is a single quote used for on a computer?
  • What is the other symbol on the single quote key?
  • Related information

How to create the single quote symbol

Creating the single quote symbol on a U.S. keyboard

To create the quote symbol using a U.S. keyboard, press the single quote key, which is on the same key as the quote ( " ) and typically to the left of Enter.

Creating the single 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, then press your finger on the " symbol.

Doing the Alt code Alt+39 can also create a single quote.

What is a single quote used for on a computer?

Programming

In most computer programming, single quotes are commonly used to contain commands or literal strings.

my $example = “Example of variable”;print ‘Do not print $example’;

In the example above, the variable $example would not be treated as a variable. Instead, it would print “Do not print $example”. If you used quotes instead of a single quote, it would print “Do not print Example of variable”.

In other programming languages, like QBasic and Visual Basic, the single quote is treated as a nonexecutable statement.

Excel

In Microsoft Excel, an apostrophe causes Excel to treat the text entered into a cell after the apostrophe as text instead of a number.

  • How to convert a number to text in Excel.
  • Type an equal sign in a spreadsheet without doing a formula.

Measurement

A single quote may be used when describing a measurement. For example, if someone said they’re 5’ 9", it’s the same as saying they’re five feet nine inches.

What is the other symbol on the single quote key?

On U.S. keyboards, the single quote key is shared with the quote key, which may be shown next to or above the single quote symbol.

When describing measurements, it’s more proper to use a single prime instead of a single quote.

Back quote, Keyboard terms, Prime, Quote

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