SQL: Need help putting single quote around string

Question

I want to put single quotes around string in my output.
I am running the following command as a test:
select ' ' hello ' ' from dual;
My expectation is to get 'hello' (Single quote around hello)
However I am getting the following error:
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00923: FROM keyword not found where expected
When I do SHOW ALL at my SQL command prompt, the escape is set as follows:
escape "\" (hex 5c)
I even tried: select '\'hello\'' from dual;
I get back: select ''hello'' from dual
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00923: FROM keyword not found where expected

Answer 1

Hi,
user521525 wrote:
I want to put single quotes around string in my output.
I am running the following command as a test:
select ' ' hello ' ' from dual;
My expectation is to get 'hello' (Single quote around hello)You probably read that you can get a single-quote within a string literal by using two of them in a row.
That's true, but they really have to be in a row (no spaces in between), and you still need the single-quotes at the beiginning and end of the literal.
So what you want is
SELECT  '''hello'''
FROM    dual;Starting in Oracle 10, you can also use Q-notation, For example:
SELECT  Q'['hello']'
FROM    dual;