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

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)#)"> **tharwood 11/16 

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 = "cfdocexamples">
    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>