Getting syntax error when using source() and ref()

Help
1

Hello! I could really use some help, this one part is preventing me from moving forward in my project and has been very frustrating. I get a syntax error, “Incorrect syntax near ‘‘films’’. Expecting ‘(’, or SELECT.” when I use the ref(‘films’) part in my code. Same goes for the source() function. SELECT * FROM {{ source(‘destination_db’, ‘actors’) }}. With that code I get the same syntax error. each of the sql files are all in the models/examples directory. It may also be worth noting that I am using dbt with docker. here is the full code:
WITH films_with_ratings AS (
SELECT
film_id,
title,
release_date,
price,
rating,
user_rating,
CASE
WHEN user_rating >= 4.5 THEN ‘Excellent’
WHEN user_rating >= 4.0 THEN ‘Good’
WHEN user_rating >= 3.0 THEN ‘Average’
ELSE ‘Poor’
END AS rating_category
FROM {{ ref(‘films’) }}
)
…
Any help is appreciate!!

p.s I am use dbt 1.8

2

Hey @jomeltapawan, not sure if it’s just occurred when pasting over the code but your code contains curly quotes. If this is how it actually looks, it ought to be:

WITH films_with_ratings AS (
    SELECT
        film_id,
        title,
        release_date,
        price,
        rating,
        user_rating,
        CASE
            WHEN user_rating >= 4.5 THEN 'excellent'
            WHEN user_rating >= 4.0 THEN 'good'
            WHEN user_rating >= 3.0 THEN 'average'
            ELSE 'poor'
        END AS rating_category
    FROM
        {{ ref('films') }}
)
SELECT
    *
FROM
    films_with_ratings

Using “'” instead.