Inserting an apostrophe (char code '==39)

OK here is a weird one:

I'm trying to insert a ' (single quote char code 39) into a string to display as text but it keeps showing up as a >

If I go into Photoshop and try to enter a single quote, it does the same thing (>). Yet if you copy this exact single quote char from this post and paste it into the text box, it correctly shows up as a '.

Then if I try see what the char code of that pasted ' is, it still shows up as 39, so I can't replace it using the char code value. Does anyone have any idea what is going on? I know I can replace it with another single quote char, such as 180, but it is drawn differently from 39;

If I replace the 39 with any other character it works fine, for instance:

str.replace(String.fromCharCode(39),'*');

I'm totally baffled by this. Any idea what might be happening or how I can fix this?

str.replace(String.fromCharCode(39),String.fromCharCode([WHAT GOES HERE]));

PS - I'm using Century Gothic, so I know this character exists (since I can paste it in) but it seems to happen on every font option I use if trying to type the character. I have no issue typing the ' in another other application on Windows, this is only occurring in Photoshop.

PPS - Clearly just grasping at straws here, I also tried to replace ' (39) with > (62) or to escape the apostrophe:

str.replace(String.fromCharCode(39),String.fromCharCode(62)); // results in >

str.replace(String.fromCharCode(39),'\''); // results in >

str.replace(String.fromCharCode(39),"\'"); // results in >

str.replace('\'', String.fromCharCode(39));// results in >

str.replace("\'", String.fromCharCode(39));// results in >