Can different databases use different name quotes

Question

Consider a MySQL quote table name using

SELECT * FROM `table_name`;

notice the single quotes

Now, can any other database ever use different char to quote their table name?

Answer 1

This use of quotes is called delimited identifiers. It's an important part of SQL because otherwise, you can't use identifiers (e.g. table names and column names) that:

• Include whitespace: "my table"
• Include special characters and punctuation: "my-table"
• Include international characters: "私のテーブル"
• Are case-sensitive: "MyTable"
• Match SQL keywords: "table"

The standard SQL language uses double-quotes for delimited identifiers:

SELECT * FROM "my table";

MySQL uses back-quotes by default. MySQL can use standard double-quotes:

SELECT * FROM `my table`;
SET GLOBAL SQL_MODE=ANSI_QUOTES;
SELECT * FROM "my table";

Microsoft SQL Server uses brackets by default. Microsoft can use standard double-quotes:

SELECT * FROM [my table];
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON;
SELECT * FROM "my table";

InterBase and Firebird need to set the SQL dialect to 3 to support delimited identifiers.

Most other brands of database use double-quotes correctly.