# Forbidden characters in SQLtag paths and OPCtag paths

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/forbidden-characters-in-sqltag-paths-and-opctag-paths/14440>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [June 1, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/forbidden-characters-in-sqltag-paths-and-opctag-paths/14440 "2017-06-01T19:05:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![benoit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5daacb/32.png) [@benoit](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/benoit)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/forbidden-characters-in-sqltag-paths-and-opctag-paths/14440/1 "2017-06-01T19:05:49Z")

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Hi,

I’ve just found that ‘+’ is forbidden in Tag paths. (I use an XML file to define them)  
-Is there a list of the forbidden characters ?  
-Is there a way to define path with a ‘+’ by using a kind of pretection like `\+`

Thanks in advance !

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/forbidden-characters-in-sqltag-paths-and-opctag-paths/14440/2 "2017-06-01T20:59:10Z")

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[Here](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC79/Keeping+Tags+Organized#KeepingTagsOrganized-InvalidTagNamecharacters) is a link to characters that are invalid in tag names. There is no way to ‘escape’ special characters in tag paths.

To expand a little more - the first character in a tag/folder name must be a valid ‘letter’ (supporting Unicode’s definition of a letter), number, or an underscore. After that, most special characters are disallowed - but `(`,`)`,`'`,`-`,`_`,`:` are specifically allowed.