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JavaScript JavaScript Basics (Retired) Storing and Tracking Information with Variables Strings and Numbers

Ro Man
Ro Man
206 Points
Posted by Ro Man
Ro Man
206 Points

Is there a best practise approach to "double" and 'single' quotes? I mean, is there one solution to be preferred?

Hi. I'm just starting out and I'm not sure, how to choose either single or double quotes when writing code.

Thanks for the feedback.

5 Answers

Luke Pettway
Luke Pettway
16,593 Points

There really isn't a single "best practice" when it comes to using single or double quotes, as you'll use whatever works the best with the content being wrapped in them. I'll use single quotes when I am wrapping html in a string as it it allows me to use double quotes for attributes without having to string escape. Double quotes are nice when you have a string with lots of apostrophes. 

var html = '<div class="cool-div"><a href="#">Link</a></div>';

var string = "There's some good reasons to use double quotes, it's usually what I do for paragraph text.";
Lindsay Sauer
Lindsay Sauer
12,029 Points
Lindsay Sauer
Lindsay Sauer
12,029 Points

According to JSON standards, JSON strings must be double quoted. Aside from that, its like Luke said; you'd typically choose one to avoid quote escaping.

Ro Man
Ro Man
206 Points
Ro Man
Ro Man
206 Points

Great. Thanks for the help. Will make it easier for me to choose what to use.

Saqib Ali
Saqib Ali
3,686 Points
Saqib Ali
Saqib Ali
3,686 Points

Hi guys just to add on to the best practise question, is there a preference when using JS within a CMS, such as WordPress?

Luke Pettway
Luke Pettway
16,593 Points

Good question, I would argue that the practices would still remain the same. The WP coding standards for example say to use single quotes with string literals: https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/best-practices/coding-standards/javascript/. It may vary though depending on who's coding standards you are trying to follow and if they have their own opinion of how to handle quotes.

Saqib Ali
Saqib Ali
3,686 Points
Saqib Ali
Saqib Ali
3,686 Points

Cheers Luke, appreciate the info!