*APOST and *QUOTE are mutually exclusive COBOL precompiler options that name the string delimiter within COBOL statements. *APOST names the apostrophe (') as the string delimiter; *QUOTE names the quotation mark ("). *APOSTSQL and *QUOTESQL are mutually exclusive COBOL precompiler options that play a similar role for SQL statements embedded in COBOL programs. *APOSTSQL names the apostrophe (') as the SQL string delimiter; with this option, the quotation mark (") is the SQL escape character. *QUOTESQL names the quotation mark as the SQL string delimiter; with this option, the apostrophe is the SQL escape character. The values of *APOSTSQL and *QUOTESQL are respectively the same as the values of *APOST and *QUOTE.
In host languages other than COBOL, the usages are fixed. The string delimiter for the host language and for static SQL statements is the apostrophe ('); the SQL escape character is the quotation mark (").
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