Smart Quotes Converter
Toggle between straight ASCII quotes and curly typographic ones.
Overview
Convert between straight ASCII quotes (" and ') and curly typographic quotes (", ", ', '). Word processors auto-curl quotes for you; plain-text editors don't. This tool reconciles the two so your prose looks right wherever it ends up.
Writers preparing prose for print or web typography, editors normalizing copy across many sources, developers stripping curly quotes that broke a JSON file, and designers ensuring consistent typography in long documents all reach for it. It's also a quick fix when curly quotes have leaked into source code where they shouldn't be.
How it works
For straight-to-curly: the tool walks each quote in your text and decides whether it opens or closes based on what's around it. A double quote at the start of a word or after whitespace opens ("), at the end of a word or before whitespace closes ("). Single quotes follow the same rule, with the extra complication that apostrophes inside contractions ("don't") use the right-curly form.
For curly-to-straight: every typographic quote variant is mapped to the matching ASCII character. The output is unambiguous and safe for source code, JSON, and other contexts that don't tolerate Unicode quotes.
Examples
Input: "Don't quit," she said.
Output: "Don't quit," she said. (with proper curly quotes)
Input: "Hello," he said. "It's me."
Output: "Hello," he said. "It's me." (Unicode typographic quotes)
Reverse:
Input: "Don't quit," she said.
Output: "Don't quit," she said. (ASCII straight quotes)
FAQ
Why do curly quotes break my code?
Most programming languages and config formats only recognize ASCII straight quotes as string delimiters. If a curly quote slips in (typically because your editor auto-replaced it), the parser sees a stray character and bails.
How does the tool decide opening vs closing?
By the surrounding characters. Opening quotes follow whitespace or sentence starts; closing quotes precede whitespace or punctuation. Apostrophes inside words always use the right-curly form.
Does it handle nested quotes?
In English convention, double quotes wrap single quotes inside ("He said, 'hello'."). The tool handles standard nesting; unusual patterns may need a manual pass.