What is '`' character called?

Question

I feel silly for asking this but it isn't like I could google this.

What is the ` character called? In case it doesnt show up, it is the character used for inline code with markdown. Also, on most keyboards, it shares the key with ~.

I like all three answers so I made this a CW instead of accepting

@Kirk: Also used in *nix shells to execute a command and return its output in an express. Used in PowerShell as an escape character in double quoted strings. Used in TeX as an opening quote (converted to the correct typographical glyph). SO lots of use. — Richard, Jul 31 '10 at 11:16

score 37 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 31 '10 at 10:47

37

All sorts of things, but in programming mostly the back-quote or backtick,

answered Jul 31 '10 at 10:47

score 21 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 31 '10 at 10:46

21

Grave (pronounced Grahv, not like the synonym for tomb) or Grave accent.

answered Jul 31 '10 at 10:46

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Does that mean that the single-quote (') is really the acute accent? – Jul 31 '10 at 10:51
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No, the acute accents is ´ (used on things like the Es in résumé). Single quotes are just called single quotation marks or apostrophes depending on usage (although single quotation marks and apostrophes are technically two distinct symbols). – Jul 31 '10 at 10:53
this page calls it backquote, interesting. You both answered my Q tho. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark_glyphs – Jul 31 '10 at 10:56
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As Neil mentioned, it's called a back-tick or a backquote in programming contexts, but in most other contexts, it's a grave. In your example of markdown, it'd be more appropriately called a backquote/back-tick. – Jul 31 '10 at 11:00

score 8 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

8

From the Jargon file, the prime nerd reference which really should be an ISO standard :-)

Common: backquote; left quote; left single quote; open quote; ; grave.

Rare: backprime; backspark; unapostrophe; birk; blugle; back tick; back glitch; push; opening single quotation mark; quasiquote.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Jul 31 '10 at 11:09

paxdiablo

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With Unicode the opening single quote is a different character though. – Mechanical snail Aug 21 '12 at 01:42

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 31 '10 at 10:48

7

You can use Unicode table to find name of the symbol. There are utilities which let you search it, like gucharmap. It gives U+0060 GRAVE ACCENT for this symbol.

answered Jul 31 '10 at 10:48

Daniel Kluev

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score 1 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

This answer or this answer provides a good definition.

In laymen's terms "no-shift-tilde" is also useful in PHP for keeping mySQL statements from crashing on single quotes on the table name.

SELECT * from `the_table_name` WHERE id=1 // best practice

For some reason certain PHP servers will choke on this:

SELECT * from 'the_table_name' WHERE id=1 // not preferred method

This normally works, but doesn't pass nice in strings:

SELECT * from "the_table_name" WHERE id=1 // how to escape this string?

Other than that, I don't use it much.

What is '`' character called?

5 Answers5

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