“

Left Double Quotation Mark

Unicode
U+201C
Category
Punctuation
HTML Entity
“
CSS
\201C
The Left Double Quotation Mark (often called an opening "smart quote" or "curly quote") is a typographic symbol used to indicate the beginning of quoted speech, a citation, or a title. Unlike straight, typewriter-style quotation marks, this curled character arcs inward toward the text, giving digital publishing a more polished, traditional print appearance. It is widely used in word processors and professional typesetting to visually distinguish the start of a quote from its end.

How to Type

Windows
Alt+0147
macOS
Option+[
Linux
Compose + < + "
HTML
&ldquo; or &#8220;

In Programming

In programming, left double quotation marks are infamous for causing syntax errors if accidentally pasted into code, as compilers strictly require straight quotes (") to define strings. However, they are frequently used inside string literals to ensure polished typographic output in user interfaces and printed documents.

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Tags

opening quote curly double quote quotation punctuation typography

Related Symbols

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