Strings

PowerShell offers several facilities for working with plain-text data.

Literal and Expanding Strings

To define a literal string (one in which no variable or escape expansion occurs), enclose it in single quotes:

$myString = 'hello `t $ENV:SystemRoot'

$myString gets the actual value of hello `t $ENV:SystemRoot.

To define an expanding string (one in which variable and escape expansion occur), enclose it in double quotes:

$myString = "hello `t $ENV:SystemRoot"

$myString gets a value similar to hello C:\WINDOWS.

To include a single quote in a single-quoted string or a double quote in a double-quoted string, include two of the quote characters in a row:

PS > "Hello ""There""!"
Hello "There"!
PS > 'Hello ''There''!'
Hello 'There'!

Note

To include a complex expression inside an expanding string, use a subexpression. For example:

$prompt = "$(get-location) >"

$prompt gets a value similar to c:\temp >.

Accessing the properties of an object requires a subexpression:

$version = "Current PowerShell version is:"
    $PSVersionTable.PSVersion.Major

$version gets a value similar to:

Current PowerShell version is: 3

Here Strings

To define a here string (one that may span multiple lines), place the two characters @" at the beginning and the two characters "@ on their own line at the end.

For example:

$myHereString = @"
This text may span multiple lines, and may
contain "quotes."
"@

Here strings may be of either the literal (single-quoted) or expanding (double-quoted) variety.

Escape Sequences

PowerShell supports escape sequences inside strings, as listed in Table A-4.

Table A-4. PowerShell escape sequences
Sequence	Meaning
`0	The null character. Often used as a record separator.
`a	The alarm character. Generates a beep when displayed on the console.
`b	The backspace character. The previous character remains in the string but is overwritten when displayed on the console.
`e	The escape character. Marks the beginning of an ANSI escape sequence such as "`e[2J“.
`f	A form feed. Creates a page break when printed on most printers.
`n	A newline.
`r	A carriage return. Newlines in PowerShell are indicated entirely by the `n character, so this is rarely required.
`t	A tab.
`u{hex-code}	A unicode character literal. Creates a character represented by the specified hexadecimal Unicode code point such as "`u{2265}" (≥).
`v	A vertical tab.
`''` (two single quotes)	A single quote, when in a literal string.
`""` (two double quotes)	A double quote, when in an expanding string.
``any other character`	That character, taken literally.