is an option for Cell that specifies whether to display " when a string is entered.
ShowStringCharacters
is an option for Cell that specifies whether to display " when a string is entered.
Details
- ShowStringCharacters is typically set to False for output cells and True for input cells.
- ShowStringCharacters is usually set at the level of styles or notebooks rather than at the level of individual cells.
Examples
Basic Examples (2)
By default, quotation marks are shown around strings in input cells, but not in output cells:
"string"Create a cell in "Output" style but with quotation marks showing:
CellPrint[ExpressionCell["string", "Output", ShowStringCharacters -> True]]Show a grid of characters without quotation marks:
CellPrint[ExpressionCell[Grid[{{"A", "B"}, {"C", "D"}}], "Text", ShowStringCharacters -> False, CellMargins -> {{200, 200}, {6, 6}}]]See Also
Tech Notes
Related Guides
History
Introduced in 1996 (3.0)
Text
Wolfram Research (1996), ShowStringCharacters, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ShowStringCharacters.html.
CMS
Wolfram Language. 1996. "ShowStringCharacters." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ShowStringCharacters.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (1996). ShowStringCharacters. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ShowStringCharacters.html
BibTeX
@misc{reference.wolfram_2026_showstringcharacters, author="Wolfram Research", title="{ShowStringCharacters}", year="1996", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ShowStringCharacters.html}", note=[Accessed: 13-June-2026]}
BibLaTeX
@online{reference.wolfram_2026_showstringcharacters, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={ShowStringCharacters}, year={1996}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ShowStringCharacters.html}, note=[Accessed: 13-June-2026]}