Quotes in JavaScript
An overview of the quotes allowed in JavaScript and their unique features
JavaScript allows you to use 3 types of quotes:
- single quotes
- double quotes
- backticks
The first 2 are essentially the same:
const test = 'test'
const bike = "bike"
There’s little to no difference in using one or the other. The only difference lies in having to escape the quote character you use to delimit the string:
const test = 'test'
const test = 'te\'st'
const test = 'te"st'
const test = "te\"st"
const test = "te'st"
There are various style guides that recommend always using one style vs the other.
I personally prefer single quotes all the time, and use double quotes only in HTML.
Backticks are a recent addition to JavaScript, since they were introduced with ES6 in 2015.
They have a unique feature: they allow multiline strings.
Multiline strings are also possible using regular strings, using escape characters:
const multilineString = 'A string\non multiple lines'
Using backticks, you can avoid using an escape character:
const multilineString = `A string
on multiple lines`
Not just that. You can interpolate variables using the ${}
syntax:
const multilineString = `A string
on ${1+1} lines`
I cover backticks-powered strings (called template literals) in a separate article, that dives more into the nitty-gritty details.
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