PreserveSingleQuotes |
Description
Prevents ColdFusion from automatically escaping single quotation mark characters that are contained in a variable. ColdFusion does not evaluate the argument.
Returns
(None)
Category
Other functions
Function syntax
    PreserveSingleQuotes(variable)
History
ColdFusion MX: Changed behavior: ColdFusion automatically escapes simple-variable, array-variable, and structure-variable references within a cfquery tag body or block. (Earlier releases did not automatically escape array-variable references.)
Parameters
Parameter | Description
variable | Variable that contains a string in which to preserve single quotation marks.
Usage
This function is useful in SQL statements to defer evaluation of a variable reference until runtime. This prevents errors that result from the evaluation of a single-quote or apostrophe data character (for example, "Joe's Diner") as a delimiter.
Example A: Consider this code:
    <cfset mystring = "'Newton's Law', 'Fermat's Theorem'">
    PreserveSingleQuotes(#mystring#) is
    <cfoutput>
    #PreserveSingleQuotes(mystring)#
    </cfoutput>
The output is as follows:
    PreserveSingleQuotes(#mystring#) is 'Newton's Law', 'Fermat's Theorem'
Example B: Consider this code:
    <cfset list0 = " '1','2''3' ">
    <cfquery sql = "select * from foo where bar in (#list0#)">
ColdFusion escapes the single-quote characters in the list as follows:
    ""1"", ""2"", ""3""
The cfquery tag throws an error.
You code this function correctly as follows:
    <cfquery sql = "select * from foo where bar in
    (#preserveSingleQuotes(list0)#)">
This function ensures that ColdFusion evaluates the code as follows:
    '1', '2', '3'
Example
    <h3>PreserveSingleQuotes Example</h3><p>This is a useful function for
       creating lists of information to return from a query. In this example,
       we pick the list of Centers in Suisun, San Francisco, and San Diego,
       using the SQL grammar IN to modify a WHERE clause, rather than looping
       through the result set after the query is run.
    <cfset List = "'Suisun', 'San Francisco', 'San Diego'">
    <cfquery name = "GetCenters" datasource = "cfsnippets">
       SELECT Name, Address1, Address2, City, Phone
       FROM Centers
       WHERE City IN (#PreserveSingleQuotes(List)#)
    </cfquery>
    <p>We found <cfoutput>#GetCenters.RecordCount#</cfoutput> records.
    <cfoutput query = "GetCenters">
    <p>#Name#<br>
    #Address1#<br>
    <cfif Address2 is not "">#Address2#
    </cfif>
    #City#<br>
    #Phone#<br>
    </cfoutput>

variable |
Variable that contains a string in which to preserve single quotation marks.