unquoted

Unquoted is an adjective describing text that is not enclosed by quotation marks. In computing and information processing, unquoted tokens are interpreted according to the syntax of the surrounding language or tool, and their meaning depends on context rather than on explicit quotation.

In most programming languages, string literals must be quoted. Unquoted words are treated as identifiers, keywords, or literals with specific semantics. For example, in Python, 'hello' is a string literal, while hello without quotes refers to a variable or function name; using an undefined name results in an error. In SQL, unquoted identifiers such as table names are allowed in many dialects, while string values must be enclosed in single quotes. Quoting rules vary by language and dialect.

In shell commands, unquoted arguments are subject to word splitting and pathname expansion; quotes prevent those processes. For instance, echo * lists files, while echo "*" prints a literal asterisk. JSON requires all strings to be quoted; unquoted values are not valid. YAML allows unquoted scalars for many data types, including numbers and booleans, though quotes may be used to avoid ambiguity.

Ambiguity and security considerations arise with unquoted text when constructing queries, commands, or data expressions. Failing to quote user input can enable injection attacks or cause unintended interpretation. When possible, following language-specific quoting rules and using proper escaping helps ensure correctness and safety.

See also: quotation marks, string literals, identifiers, literals.