title: JSON text is not properly formatted. Unexpected character ''' is found at position 1. in SQL Server 2017
body: <p>I am getting an array from the server like this: </p>
  
  <pre><code>["Sports", "Life"] 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and SQL Server is throwing an error like : </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>JSON text is not properly formatted. Unexpected character ''' is found at position 1"</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>My code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>DECLARE @data VARCHAR(100) = ["Sport","Life"]
  
  SELECT *
  FROM skills
  WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1
                FROM OPENJSON(@data, '$') AS j
                WHERE skills.description LIKE '%' + j.value + '%')
  </code></pre>