What “ means
It starts a quotation in English, but not every language. In German-style „quotes“, “ closes it instead.
Quotation marks evolved gradually: before the seventeenth century, double commas in handwritten manuscripts flagged important passages. Printers later developed conventions for enclosing quotations.
Curly quotes give prose typographic polish.
Calling someone “helpful” can sound skeptical. Leave off the quotes if you mean the praise.
Don't confuse it with
2Questions people ask
1Should I use it in code?
No. Use the required straight quotes to enclose code strings; curly quotes can cause syntax errors.
How to type “
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 201C, then Alt+X to get “.
Windows
Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win + .).
macOS
Control+Command+SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “left double quotation mark”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 201c, then Enter or Space.
HTML
“CSS
\201CWord processor
With smart quotes enabled, type a straight double quote before your text; check that it becomes “.
Windows
Hold **Alt** and type **0147** on the numeric keypad.
Mac
Press **Option+[**.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
“
HTML hex
“
CSS content
content: "\201C";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%80%9C
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
3
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.