# Using SSML with the Synthesize-Speech command
<a name="example-ssml-synthesize-speech-cli"></a>

This example shows how to use the `synthesize-speech` command with an SSML string. When you use the `synthesize-speech` command, you typically provide the following:
+ The input text (required) 
+ Opening and closing tags (required)
+ The output format
+ A voice 

In this example, you specify a simple text string in quotation marks along with the required opening and closing `<speak></speak>` tags. 

**Important**  
Although you don't use quotation marks around input text in the Amazon Polly console, you must use them in use the AWS CLI It's also important that you differentiate between the quotation marks around input text and quotations required for individual tags.  
For example, you can use standard quotation marks (") to enclose the input text, and single quotation marks (') for interior tags, or vice versa. Either option works for Unix, Linux, and macOS. However, with Windows you must enclose the input text in standard quotations marks and use single quotation marks for the tags.   
For all operating systems, you can use standard quotation marks (") to enclose the input text, and single quotation marks (') for interior tags). For example:  

```
--text "<speak>Hello <break time='300ms'/> World</speak>"
```
  
For Unix, Linux, and macOS, you can also use the reverse, with single quotation marks (') enclosing the input text and standard quotation marks (") for interior tags:  

```
--text '<speak>Hello <break time="300ms"/> World</speak>'
```


The following AWS CLI example is formatted for Unix, Linux, and macOS. For Windows, replace the backslash (\\) Unix continuation character at the end of each line with a caret (^) and use full quotation marks (") around the input text with single quotes (') for interior tags.

```
aws polly synthesize-speech \
--text-type ssml \
--text '<speak>Hello world</speak>' \
--output-format mp3 \
--voice-id Joanna \
speech.mp3
```

To hear the synthesized speech, play the resulting `speech.mp3` file using any audio player.