What characters are valid in an SQL Server database name?

Question

We\'re going to provide our clients with a tool that (among other things) creates a new SQL Server database, and I want to be able to do basic validation on the database nam

Answer 1

There is a difference between regular identifiers and delimited identifiers. A regular identifier is bound by the limitations that you mention, while a delimited identifier can contain any characters (except the delimiter).

As you are using quotation marks around the identifier, it's a delimited identifier, and you are not limited by the rules of regular identifiers.

Without the delimiters you can only create databases with identifiers that follow the rules of regular identifiers:

create database db_name

With delimiters, you can use pretty much anything:

create database "That's a funny name, isn't it?"

create database [)(/%Q)/#&%¤)Q/#)!]