# When should a function accept a symbol as an argument?

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/when-should-a-function-accept-a-symbol-as-an-argument/43510>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** question, metaprogramming, design\
**Created:** [July 22, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/when-should-a-function-accept-a-symbol-as-an-argument/43510 "2020-07-22T18:51:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![DNF](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/dnf/32/10191_2.png) [@DNF](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/DNF)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/when-should-a-function-accept-a-symbol-as-an-argument/43510/41 "2020-07-26T16:17:01Z")

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I always feel like strings are more ‘lax’. It seems like case should be unimportant, mostly, and frequently I think they are treated that way (comparing with a `lowercase` for example).

Psychologically, it seems like symbols are ‘stricter’, and I always know case matters.

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