What is a string in Windows PowerShell?

A string is a sequence of characters in Windows PowerShell.

If a sting is encoded in ASCII format, each character occupies a single byte. But if a string is encoded in UTF-8 format, a character may occupy multiple bytes. So the number of characters in a string may not be equal to the number of bytes.

In most cases, characters can be entered directly by pressing a key on the keyboard. But special characters or multiple-byte characters require escape sequences to enter them. Windows PowerShell supports the following escape sequences:

`` - The ` character
`t - The tab character
`n - The new line character
`r - The carriage return character
`' - The single quote character
`" - The double quote character
`$ - The dollar sign character

Strings can be entered in PowerShell command lines and scripts as String literals in two formats:

• "..." - Double-quoted string literal, which supports escape sequences.
• '...' - Single-quoted string literal, which does not support escape sequences. But you need to use ('') to enter a single quote inside the string.

Here is a script with some example of string literals in Windows PowerShell:

# A double-quote string literal
Write-Host "Hello world!"

# A double-quote string literal with an escape sequence
Write-Host "Line 1 `n Line 2"

# A single-quote string literal
Write-Host 'Line 1 `n Line 2'

# A single-quote string literal
Write-Host 'Let''s go!'

If you run the script, you will get:

PS C:\fyicenter> Test.ps1

Hello world!
Line 1
 Line 2
Line 1 `n Line 2
Let's go!

⇒ String Concatenation in Windows PowerShell

⇐ Work with Strings in Windows PowerShell

⇑ Work with Strings in Windows PowerShell

⇑⇑ Windows PowerShell Tutorials