---
id: reference-field-special-characters
title: Reference a Field with Special Characters
description: Solution to reference a field name that contains a special character.
slug: /help/docs/search/get-started-with-search/search-basics/reference-field-special-characters/
canonical: https://www.sumologic.com/help/docs/search/get-started-with-search/search-basics/reference-field-special-characters/
---



The Sumo Logic query language allows alphanumeric characters and underscores for field names, with the exception of starting a field name with a number. In cases where a field name contains special characters, you need to escape the field name by using the following syntax when calling the field in the query:

`%"<field_name>"`

For example:

```sumo
| keyvalue regex " ([A-Z_-]+?)='([^']+?)'" keys "TYPE", "CHANNEL", "DOCUMENT-URI"
| count by %"document-uri"
```

:::tip
You can create a field with the `as` operator.
:::

## Limitations

You do not need to escape field names that:

* have characters matching `a-zA-Z0-9_.`
* do not begin with a number or `.` (dot)
* do not have more than one `.` (dot) together

Escaping field names with the syntax `%"<field_name>"` is a safe practice when using special characters. You will need to escape any quote characters `"` with a backslash `\` to use them in the field name when referencing a field with special characters.