How to Escape Double Quotes in PowerShell

Tagged: PowerShell

Problem#

In this blog post, we will show you how to escape double quotes "" in PowerShell.

Using Backtick Character#

You can use the backtick character (`) immediately before the double quote that you want to escape. For example:

$myString = "This is a `"double-quoted`" string."
Write-Host $myString

In the above example, the backtick before the inner double quotes tells PowerShell to treat them as literal characters, so the output will be This is a "double-quoted" string.

Using Single Quotes#

Another way to escape double quotes is to enclose your string in single quotes. In single-quoted strings, double quotes are treated as literal characters. For example:

$myString = 'This is a "double-quoted" string.'
Write-Host $myString

In this case, you don’t need to escape the double quotes and the output will be the same, i.e., This is a "double-quoted" string.

Using Escape Sequence#

You can also use the escape sequence \" to escape double quotes within a double-quoted string. Here is an example:

$myString = "This is a `"`double-quoted`"` string."
Write-Host $myString

In this example, \" is used to escape double quotes within double-quoted string, resulting in the same output: This is a "double-quoted" string.

Using Here-Strings#

Here-Strings allow you to define multiline strings and are often used when you need to include double quotes without escaping them. For example:

$myString = @"
This is a "double-quoted" string.
"@
Write-Host $myString

In this example, the content of the Here-String is preserved as-is, including the double quotes.

Using String Concatenation#

You can break the string into multiple parts and concatenate them together using the + operator. This way, you can include double quotes within the string without escaping them.

For example:

$part1 = "This is a "
$part2 = "double-quoted"
$part3 = " string."

$myString = $part1 + '"' + $part2 + '"' + $part3
Write-Host $myString

In this example, the double quotes are included within the string by concatenating them with other parts, resulting in the same output: This is a "double-quoted" string.

Conclusion#

To escape double quotes in PowerShell, there are many techniques we can use: using backtick character, using single quotes, using escape sequence, using Here-Strings and using string concatenation.