This use of quotes is called delimited identifiers. It's an important part of SQL because otherwise, you can't use identifiers (e.g. table names and column names) that:
- Include whitespace: "my table"
- Include special characters and punctuation: "my-table"
- Include international characters: "私のテーブル"
- Are case-sensitive: "MyTable"
- Match SQL keywords: "table"
The standard SQL language uses double-quotes for delimited identifiers:
SELECT * FROM "my table";
MySQL uses back-quotes by default. MySQL can use standard double-quotes:
SELECT * FROM `my table`;
SET GLOBAL SQL_MODE=ANSI_QUOTES;
SELECT * FROM "my table";
Microsoft SQL Server uses brackets by default. Microsoft can use standard double-quotes:
SELECT * FROM [my table];
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON;
SELECT * FROM "my table";
InterBase and Firebird need to set the SQL dialect to 3 to support delimited identifiers.
Most other brands of database use double-quotes correctly.