Check if powershell string contains an asterisk

Question

I have a string : $row.TableName_Org[$i] The value it contains is

This is a happy little asterisk: '*'

Now I want to do an IF based on the fact that the string contains an asterisk.

    if($row.TableName_Org[$i] -Match "*") {
    //Do Something
    }

However gives me this error:

"*" - Kwantiteitsmeter {x,y} wordt door niets voorafgegaan. parseren       
At C:\Users\hveijer\VS Code Repos\migratie-uitwissel\ReadData.ps1:33 char:4
+    $row.TableName_Org[$i] -match "*"
+    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : OperationStopped: (:) [], ArgumentException  
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.ArgumentException

The asterisk is a special charachter for regex. If you want to match some of those charachters you have to escape it ... like this: -match '\*' — Olaf
– Olaf, Commented Mar 24, 2021 at 11:09

Mathias R. Jessen · Accepted Answer · 2024-10-15 17:22:42Z

6

As you've found out yourself, the escape character in PowerShells wildcard/glob mechanism is ` (backtick):

'string with * in it' -like '`*'

... but the backtick is also the escape character for expandable (double-quoted) strings, leading to situations with awkward double escaping, like:

$pattern = "${prefix}``*"

For this reason, I prefer to let PowerShell escape my search terms for me instead of doing it manually:

[wildcardpattern]::Escape("${prefix}*")

For regex patterns (eg. for use with -match), use [regex]::Escape instead:

'string with * in it' -match [regex]::Escape('*')

edited Oct 15, 2024 at 17:22

answered Mar 24, 2021 at 11:37

Mathias R. Jessen

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2 Comments

ShieldOfSalvation Over a year ago

It would be nice if you used your suggested wildcardpattern in an example with the original question involving the -Match clause

Mathias R. Jessen Over a year ago

@ShieldOfSalvation Hereby provided

Henrov · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-24 11:08:19Z

1

Turns out I had to escape the * using ` (slash backtick)

answered Mar 24, 2021 at 11:08

Henrov

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