The ' character is represented by 39 in ASCII and U+0027 ' APOSTROPHE in Unicode. It is used as:

  • Apostrophe (as straight version of the character), a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark
  • Single quotation mark (as straight version of the and characters)

Informal use edit

Being supplied as standard on many keyboard layouts, it is often used in informal contexts to replace other similar looking characters that include:

Diacritical marks edit

  • Acute accent (´), a diacritic used in many modern written languages
  • Geresh (׳), a sign in Hebrew writing
  • Apex (´), a diacritic used to indicate a long vowel

Modifier letter punctuation edit

Other uses as accents, pronunciation, or stress edit

Units of measure edit

  • Prime (symbol) (), used to designate units and for other purposes in mathematics, the sciences, linguistics, and music


See also edit