Display Escape Sequence (Single or Double Quote) in apex:outputText

Question

I am trying to display US State inside single quote in Visualforce page. Please find below the visualforce page code where tax rate is param {0} and US State name is param {1}.

<apex:outputText value="{!IF(Tax__c.Rate=='0','No state tax applied','Tax rate is {0} percent for state {1}')}">
   <apex:param value="{!Tax__c.Rate}"/>
   <apex:param value="{!Tax__c.StateName}"/>                       
</apex:outputText>

I tried using \' before param {1}--that is 'Tax rate is {0} percent for state \'{1}'\'. But it is not working and displaying \ instead of '. Do you have any solution to display single quote or double quote in apex:outputText in Visualforce page?

Answer 1

I would personally put the quotes in the parameter, instead:

<apex:outputText value="{!IF(Tax__c.Rate=='0','No state tax applied','Tax rate is {0} percent for state {1}')}">
   <apex:param value="{!Tax__c.Rate}"/>
   <apex:param value="'{!Tax__c.StateName}'"/>                       
</apex:outputText>

This is probably the least painful method of getting this to work. Normally, in an apex:outputText, you can use '' to force a single ', but within an expression, it becomes apparently impossible.

Answer 2

In a pinch, sometimes I just declare a variable (sq for single quote) to avoid making the syntax messier.

<apex:variable value="'" var="sq" />

<apex:outputText value="{!IF(Tax__c.Rate=='0','No state tax applied','Tax rate is {0} percent for state '+sq+'{1}'+sq)}">
   <apex:param value="{!Tax__c.Rate}"/>
   <apex:param value="{!Tax__c.StateName}"/>                       
</apex:outputText>

You could similarly do:

<apex:variable value='"' var='dq' />