Delimited identifiers are database object names that are identical to reserved words, words that contain spaces, and non-alphanumeric characters that are disallowed in a regular identifier. If the installation allows mixed case names, you can also use delimited identifiers to distinguish among identical names with different case (for example, SALES and Sales).

On the command line, you use delimited identifiers if needed for names of tables, views, synonyms, schema, and authorization names (users, groups, and roles).

To create a delimited identifier, you must enclose the name in double quotation marks ("), dereference any embedded quotes, and use the appropriate number and type of delimiting quotes to pass it through your operating system. Use delimited identifiers on the operating system command line to specify database object names:

You must observe any operating system requirements for specifying quoted parameters, parameters containing embedded quotes, and parameters containing other characters that could be interpreted differently by the operating system. Depending on your operating system, you add delimiting and dereferencing quotes to a delimited identifier on the command line in order to pass it through the operating system with its own delimiting and embedded quotes (if any).