topic Re: Smart Quotes Vs. Simple Quotes in SAS Programming

Smart Quotes Vs. Simple Quotes

ManitobaMoose — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 21:00:22 GMT

My program didn't work because I had smart quotes instead of simple quotes. What is the difference? Thanks!

Here is a response from another anwered post:

The code you posted will not run.

This line

Value = spedis(Name,‘Friedman’) ;

has "smart quotes", the curly version instead of a simple '

Re: Smart Quotes Vs. Simple Quotes

Reeza — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 21:10:08 GMT

PDF and WORD use smart quotes. They are not recognized by programs as valid characters. They 'look' better.

from the oracle known as Google:

“Smart quotes,” the correct quotation marks and apostrophes, are curly or sloped. "Dumb quotes," or straightquotes, are a vestigial constraint from typewriters when using one key for two different marks helped save space on a keyboard.

EDIT: If you paste code in word it tends to automatically format them to smart quotes. So if you copy and paste code - which is not a good way to learn programming because your brain doesn't actually process what's being copied - you'll end up with this issue. Typing out the code line by line forces your brain to wonder, why the heck is there a semicolon here? Or why is there a set of commas back to back? You'll miss those details when copying and pasting. If you're just learning a language I highly recommend you type out the commands at first.

Re: Smart Quotes Vs. Simple Quotes

ChrisHemedinger — Thu, 14 Sep 2017 22:11:25 GMT

I'm not a fan of smart quotes, which is why I turn them off in Word (and by extension, in MS Outlook which respects the same preferences). You'll find the setting in Word, File->Options, Proofing tab, then click AutoCorrect.

This affects only those quotes that you type, not those that you copy/paste from somewhere else. PDF and Word docs are notorious for smart quote contamination.