Table of Contents for

MySQL in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

This function accepts a string enclosed in single quotes and returns a string that is safe to manipulate with SQL statements. Single quotes, backslashes, ASCII NULLs, and Ctrl-Zs contained in the string are escaped with a backslash. This is a useful security measure when accepting values from a public web interface. Here is an example:

SELECT QUOTE(course_name) AS Courses
FROM courses
WHERE course_code = 'ENGL-405';

+---------------------+
| Courses             |
+---------------------+
| 'Works of O\'Henry' |
+---------------------+

Notice in the results that because of the QUOTE() function, the string returned is enclosed in single quotes, and the single quote within the data returned is escaped with a backslash.