User Guide

Table Of Contents

48 Chapter 3: Using ColdFusion Variables

Escaping quotation marks and number signs

To include a single-quotation character in a string that is single-quoted, use two single-quotation

marks (known as escaping the single-quotation mark). The following example uses escaped single-

quotation marks:

<cfset myString='This is a single-quotation mark: '' This is a double-quotation

mark: "'>

<cfoutput>#mystring#</cfoutput><br>

To include a double-quotation mark in a double-quoted string, use two double-quotation marks

(known as escaping the double-quotation mark). The following example uses escaped double-

quotation marks:

<cfset myString="This is a single-quotation mark: ' This is a double-quotation

mark: """>

<cfoutput>#mystring#</cfoutput><br>

Because strings can be in either double-quotation marks or single-quotation marks, both of the

preceding examples display the same text:

This is a single-quotation mark: ' This is a double-quotation mark: "

To insert a number sign (#) in a string, you must escape the number sign, as follows:

"This is a number sign ##"

Lists

ColdFusion includes functions that operate on lists, but it does not have a list data type. In

ColdFusion, a list is just a string that consists of multiple entries separated by delimiter characters.

The default delimiter for lists is the comma. If you use any other character to separate list

elements, you must specify the delimiter in the list function. You can also specify multiple

delimiter characters. For example, you can tell ColdFusion to interpret a comma or a semicolon as

a delimiter, as the following example shows:

List length using ; and , as delimiters: #listlen(Mylist, ";,")#<br>

List length using only , as a delimiter: #listlen(Mylist)#<br>

</cfoutput>

This example displays the following output:

List length using ; and , as delimiters: 5

List length using only , as a delimiter: 3

Each delimiter must be a single character. For example, you cannot tell ColdFusion to require two

hyphens in a row as a delimiter.

If a list has two delimiters in a row, ColdFusion ignores the empty element. For example, if

MyList is "1,2,,3,,4,,,5" and the delimiter is the comma, the list has five elements and list

functions treat it the same as "1,2,3,4,5".