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**QUOTE(** //string// , //flag//)

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| **QUOTE** | Expands (or unpacks) //string// data |
| //string// | A string constant or variable containing the properties to parse. |
| //flag// | An unsigned integer that controls the method of unpacking. |

The way that **QUOTE** processes the //string// is based on the //flag// parameter.

If the //flag// parameter is set to 0 (default), the **QUOTE **procedure returns the string contained in the symbol with all single quotes ('), un-paired left angle brackets (<;), and un-paired left curly braces ({) "doubled up" to prevent compiler errors. Non-printable characters are replaced with <;//n//> sequences, where //n// is a character code. 10 or more repeated characters are replaced with a //a//{//n//} sequence, where //a// is a character and //n// is the number of times that the character is repeated.

If the //flag// parameter is set to 1, **QUOTE** unpacks {} and <;> sequences if the sequence inside the {} or <;> is numeric and doubles all single quotes (').

This allows the user to enter string constants containing apostrophes, and filter expressions containing less than signs (<;) without requiring that they enter two of each.

**Return Data Type:     **STRING

**Example:**

**stringvar1  STRING('<;250>')**

**stringvar2  STRING('<;display text>')**

**stringvar3  STRING(30)**

**  CODE**

**  MESSAGE(****QUOTE****(stringvar1,0))  !returns accented u**

**  MESSAGE(****QUOTE****(stringvar1,1))  !returns accented u**

**  MESSAGE(****QUOTE****(stringvar2,0))  !returns '<;<;display text>'**

**  MESSAGE(****QUOTE****(stringvar2,1))  !returns '<;display text>'**

**  stringvar3 = 'label{{PROP:text} = value'**

**  MESSAGE(****QUOTE****(stringvar3,0))  !returns 'label{{PROP:text} = value'**

**  MESSAGE(****QUOTE****(stringvar3,1))  !returns 'label{PROP:text} = value'**

**See Also:**

[[unquoteremovestring special characters .htm|UNQUOTE]]