How do I escape a single quote in a Socrata SODA 2 API call?

Question

I'd like to request a query that includes a single quote '.

http://data.cityofchicago.org/resource/xh8b-g55w.json?$where=license_description="Caterer's Liquor License"&$limit=1

returns

{
"code" : "query.execution.queryTooComplex",
"error" : true,
"message" : "No multi-column conditions are allowed",
"data" : {
"reason" : "validation.multi-column-condition"
  }
}

Answer 1

From Socrata Tech Support

The [Socrata SODA 2 API] expects strings to be enclosed in single quotes. You can use double single quotes to escape it within a string.

http://data.cityofchicago.org/resource/xh8b-g55w.json?$where=license_description='Caterer''s Liquor License'&$limit=1

Answer 2

Yep, that's exactly what you need to do. Looking at the error message you posted, it looks like you ended up confusing our query parser.

As we improve the SODA query APIs, we'll likely make that interface clearer.

Thanks,

Chris Metcalf

Director of Developer Platform

chris.metcalf (at) socrata.com