Strings: double versus single quotes

[Skip Montanaro]

> Nothing strong. I tend to use double quotes because I have a
> background in C (where double quotes are for strings, single quotes
> for characters), and double quotes are the recommendation for
> docstrings (see PEP 258). If you tend to work a lot with SQL, you
> might prefer single quotes. Use whatever makes you happy.

I also came to Python from C and tend to make the same mental distinction,
though that has softened with time. Given that I have four different
choices, I consider:

a) If it's preexisting code (especially written by someone else) I try to
maintain that style (if discernable) for consistency, subject to

b) Minimizing the need to use backslashes

I also agree about SQL. I found that something like this:

stmt = (
    """select foo from bar"""
    """  where a = 'bag'"""
    """    and c = 'dog'"""
)

worked pretty well, served to both satisfy my brain's desire for semantic
indentation (you should see some of the SQL I inherited - yikes!) and
maintain a visual distinction between Python and SQL quoting. (Consistently
using triple quotes minimizes the chance of needing a stray Python
backslash inside the SQL code.) I'm now retired, so can't double check, but
I believe SQLite and MSSQL are unusual in their Pythonesque treatment of
single and double quotes being synonymous. I believe most other dialects
(Oracle, MySQL, Sybase, PostgreSQL that I checked) only recognize single
quotes as string delimiters.

Skip