Smart Quote Converter: Curly Quotes
Convert straight quotes to smart (curly) quotes and back — for typography, markdown, and word processors.
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Tags: smart quote converter, curly quotes tool, typographic quotes converter
Smart Quote Converter: Curly Quotes Smart quotes — "like this" instead of "like this" — are the mark of careful typography. They distinguish published writing from raw text output. A smart quote converter analyzes context to replace straight ASCII quotes with the correct opening and closing Unicode variants. The Unicode Standard defines these characters at U+201C/U+201D (double) and U+2018/U+2019 (single), and the Chicago Manual of Style governs their usage in professional writing. Unicode smart quotes are supported by 99.5% of modern text editors and browsers. --- The Four Smart Quote Characters | Character | Code Point | HTML Entity | Name | |-----------|------------|------------|------| | " | U+201C | “ | LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK | | " | U+201D | ” | RIGHT DOUBLE…
Frequently Asked Questions
What are smart quotes?
Smart quotes are typographically correct quotation marks that use distinct opening and closing forms: left double quotation mark (U+201C, “), right double quotation mark (U+201D, ”), left single quotation mark (U+2018, ‘), and right single quotation mark (U+2019, ’). Straight quotes use one generic shape for both open and close positions.
How do I convert straight quotes to curly quotes?
The smart quote converter analyzes the context of each straight quote to determine whether it opens or closes a quoted span, then replaces it with the appropriate Unicode character. Opening quotes follow a space, punctuation, or start of line; closing quotes follow a letter, digit, or punctuation. Edge cases like contractions (it's) require contextual rules.
What is the difference between " and "?
The straight double quote (U+0022, QUOTATION MARK) is the ASCII character typed by pressing the key on a standard keyboard. The curly variants are U+201C (LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK, “) and U+201D (RIGHT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK, ”). Smart quotes are used in published prose; straight quotes are used in code and technical contexts.
How do I handle smart quotes in programming?
In code, always use straight quotes (U+0022 and U+0027). Smart quotes in string literals or JSON will cause syntax errors in most languages. When processing user-generated content from word processors, convert smart quotes to straight before parsing. When displaying output meant for reading, convert straight to smart for better typography.
How do I convert smart quotes to HTML entities?
Left double: “ or “ Right double: ” or ” Left single: ‘ or ‘ Right single: ’ or ’. In UTF-8 HTML, you can embed the characters directly. Named entities (“ etc.) work but are verbose. In Markdown, most processors convert " to smart quotes automatically.
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