Curly or straight?
Typewriters and keyboards have one straight double quote (") and one straight single quote ('). Typography uses separate opening and closing marks (“ ” and ‘ ’) and the apostrophe is the closing single quote (’). Published books, magazines and well-set websites use curly quotes; code, data files and many technical contexts need straight ones.
Converting to curly quotes
Deciding between an opening and a closing mark is subtle, and simple converters often get apostrophes wrong. This one handles:
- apostrophes inside words: don’t, it’s, O’Brien;
- leading apostrophes for dropped letters and decades: ’90s, rock ’n’ roll, ’tis, ’em, which must be ’ (closing), not ‘ (opening);
- nested quotes: “She said ‘hi’”;
- primes for feet and inches or minutes and seconds after digits: 5′10″ (optional).
Quote styles for other languages: German „…“, French « … » with the narrow no-break spaces French typography requires, Spanish «…», Swedish and Finnish ”…”, Polish and Dutch „…”, and Japanese 「…」.
Converting to straight quotes
Straight quotes are safer for code, CSV, JSON, SMS (curly quotes push messages into Unicode encoding) and some older systems. All curly quote variants, primes and guillemets are converted.
Worked example
Here is what the Smart Quotes Converter returns for its built-in example. Settings used: Convert to: Curly “smart” quotes; Quote style: English “double” ‘single’; Feet/inches as primes (5′10″): on. Click Try an example in the tool above to load it, then change it as you like.
"It's the '90s," she said. 'Rock 'n' roll never dies.' He's 5'10" tall.“It’s the ’90s,” she said. ‘Rock ’n’ roll never dies.’ He’s 5′10″ tall.Questions
How do I convert straight quotes to curly quotes?
Paste your text with “Curly” selected. Opening and closing quotes and apostrophes are chosen automatically.
What is the right apostrophe in ’90s?
The closing single quote (’), because it replaces missing digits. Many converters wrongly use an opening quote there.
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