How to add a line to .txt file with special characters and variables in PowerShell

Question

I have a PowerShell file e.g. C:\MyPowerShell.ps1 and I would like to have the following line there:

$myNewVariable = "Lukas"

Where string Lukas will be taken from variable $name. The variable $name will be declared before I run a command to do this action. I would like to use another PowerShell command to do that.

$name = "Lukas" <br>
Add-Content C:\MyPowerShell.txt ???

Please help me ;-)

Where is "there"? On the first line of the file? Last line? In the middle somewhere? What's already in the file? — Mathias R. Jessen, Aug 20 '21 at 12:23
``'$myNewVariable = "Lukas"'` | Add-Content -Path 'C:\MyPowerShell.ps1'``. If you enclose the string in single quotes, PowerShell won't expand the variables inside, so the string is taken literally — Theo, Aug 20 '21 at 12:23
@Theo But Lukas should be taken from another variable e.g. $name = "Lukas" and used in the command — Lukáš Glod, Aug 20 '21 at 12:49
You would like to add the value of $name to the file C:\MyPowerShell.txt? If so, just pipe it... $name | Out-File c:\MyPowerShell.txt -Append — Dennis, Aug 23 '21 at 19:53

mklement0 · Answer 1 · 2021-08-20T14:22:33.197

Use an expandable (interpolating) string ("...") in which you individually `-escape $ characters in tokens you do not want to be expanded as variable references / subexpressions; similarly, escape embedded " characters as `" ("" would work too):

$name = 'Lucas'
Add-Content C:\MyPowerShell.txt -Value "`$myNewVariable = `"$name`""

Alternatively, use the -f operator, as shown in Theo's helpful answer.

This answer compares and contrasts these two approaches.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 20 '21 at 14:03

0

Or use the -f Format operator:

$name = 'Lukas'
Add-Content -Path 'C:\MyPowerShell.txt' -Value ('$myNewVariable = "{0}"' -f $name)

answered Aug 20 '21 at 14:03

Theo

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How to add a line to .txt file with special characters and variables in PowerShell

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