Why do I need to quote column names in Jinja?

In the macro example we passed the column name amount quotes:

{{ cents_to_dollars('amount') }} as amount_usd

We have to use quotes to pass the string 'amount' to the macro.

Without the quotes, the Jinja parser will look for a variable named amount. Since this doesn't exist, it will compile to nothing.

Quoting in Jinja can take a while to get used to! The rule is that you're within a Jinja expression or statement (i.e. within {% ... %} or {{ ... }}), you'll need to use quotes for any arguments that are strings.

Single and double quotes are equivalent in Jinja – just make sure you match them appropriately.

And if you do need to pass a variable as an argument, make sure you don't nest your curlies.