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# Quoting: `quote` and `'`
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> +\[missing\] in \[missing\] also documents `quote`.
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The `quote` form produces a constant:
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```racket
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(quote datum)
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```
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The syntax of a `datum` is technically specified as anything that the
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`read` function parses as a single element. The value of the `quote`
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form is the same value that `read` would produce given `datum`.
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The `datum` can be a symbol, a boolean, a number, a \(character or
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byte\) string, a character, a keyword, an empty list, a pair \(or list\)
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containing more such values, a vector containing more such values, a
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hash table containing more such values, or a box containing another such
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value.
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Examples:
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```racket
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> (quote apple)
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'apple
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> (quote #t)
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#t
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> (quote 42)
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42
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> (quote "hello")
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"hello"
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> (quote ())
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'()
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> (quote ((1 2 3) #("z" x) . the-end))
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'((1 2 3) #("z" x) . the-end)
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> (quote (1 2 . (3)))
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'(1 2 3)
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```
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As the last example above shows, the `datum` does not have to match the
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normalized printed form of a value. A `datum` cannot be a printed
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representation that starts with `#<`, so it cannot be `#<void>`,
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`#<undefined>`, or a procedure.
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The `quote` form is rarely used for a `datum` that is a boolean, number,
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or string by itself, since the printed forms of those values can already
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be used as constants. The `quote` form is more typically used for
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symbols and lists, which have other meanings \(identifiers, function
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calls, etc.\) when not quoted.
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An expression
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```racket
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'datum
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```
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is a shorthand for
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`(quote` `datum)`
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and this shorthand is almost always used instead of `quote`. The
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shorthand applies even within the `datum`, so it can produce a list
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containing `quote`.
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> +\[missing\] in \[missing\] provides more on the `'` shorthand.
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Examples:
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```racket
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> 'apple
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'apple
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> '"hello"
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"hello"
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> '(1 2 3)
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'(1 2 3)
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> (display '(you can 'me))
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(you can (quote me))
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```
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