Vista - Mix single and double quotes

I don't know if this is a bug or not (yet?) (full) supported.

"Mix" here obviously means "Alternate".

It doesn't work at all in expression mode :

'$X'"Y"'$X'
or
"Y"'$X'"Y"

raise an error.

It "half-works" in command mode :
# <sq>$X</sq><dq>Y</dq><sq>$X</sq>
write-host '$X'"Y"'$X'

returns :

$X Y $X

or

# <dq>Y</dq><sq>$X</sq><dq>Y</dq>
write-host "Y"'$X'"Y"

returns :

Y $X Y

As you see it "half-works" as spaces are added and we should expect :
$XY$X and Y$XY as returns.

Regards,

--
Jean - JMST
Belgium

try this syntax

@'
" can't we see '' ' " " that we are mixxing something
'@


betwene the @' and the '@ its totally literal, no matter how many
double or single quotes there are, or even ` escape codes.. they don't
get escaped.

one thing to no is its a tedious syntax
you have to have them on different lines, and even an extra space after
the @' will make it bomb.


Jean wrote:
> I don't know if this is a bug or not (yet?) (full) supported.
>
> "Mix" here obviously means "Alternate".
>
> It doesn't work at all in expression mode :
>
> '$X'"Y"'$X'
> or
> "Y"'$X'"Y"
>
> raise an error.
>
> It "half-works" in command mode :
> # <sq>$X</sq><dq>Y</dq><sq>$X</sq>
> write-host '$X'"Y"'$X'
>
> returns :
>
> $X Y $X
>
> or
>
> # <dq>Y</dq><sq>$X</sq><dq>Y</dq>
> write-host "Y"'$X'"Y"
>
> returns :
>
> Y $X Y
>
> As you see it "half-works" as spaces are added and we should expect :
> $XY$X and Y$XY as returns.
>
> Regards,
>
> --
> Jean - JMST
> Belgium

Some more workarounds:

a) write-host "Y"'$X'"Y" -s ""

b) write-host ("Y"+'$X'+"Y")

c) $ofs="";[string]("Y",'$X',"Y")

d) ("Y"+'$X'+"Y")

--
greetings
dreeschkind

"Jean" wrote:

> I don't know if this is a bug or not (yet?) (full) supported.
>
> "Mix" here obviously means "Alternate".
>
> It doesn't work at all in expression mode :
>
> '$X'"Y"'$X'
> or
> "Y"'$X'"Y"
>
> raise an error.
>
> It "half-works" in command mode :
> # <sq>$X</sq><dq>Y</dq><sq>$X</sq>
> write-host '$X'"Y"'$X'
>
> returns :
>
> $X Y $X
>
> or
>
> # <dq>Y</dq><sq>$X</sq><dq>Y</dq>
> write-host "Y"'$X'"Y"
>
> returns :
>
> Y $X Y
>
> As you see it "half-works" as spaces are added and we should expect :
> $XY$X and Y$XY as returns.
>
> Regards,
>
> --
> Jean - JMST
> Belgium
>
>
>

> try this syntax
>
> @'
> " can't we see '' ' " " that we are mixxing something
> '@
>

Thank you for your answer and the trick.

But I wanted a "mix" preserving "expand" double quote contents and
"unexpand" single quote contents.

ie to be able to do :

$test="Z"
write-host '$test'"$test"'$test'
giving
$testZ$test

Regards,

--
Jean - JMST
Belgium

> Some more workarounds:
>
> a) write-host "Y"'$X'"Y" -s ""
>
> b) write-host ("Y"+'$X'+"Y")
>
> c) $ofs="";[string]("Y",'$X',"Y")
>
> d) ("Y"+'$X'+"Y")
>

Thank you.
b) and d) are my favorites :-)

As in my project I "need" <sq></sq><dq></dq> I use `b to start the
double quote string to get rid the extra space, ie :

write-host '$SINGLE'"`bDOUBLE"

BTW, is it a way to know if a string variable is single or double
quoted ?

Regards,

--
Jean - JMST
Belgium

"Jean" wrote:

> BTW, is it a way to know if a string variable is single or double
> quoted ?

AFAIK this is not directly possible. Everything in double quotes will be
expanded as soon as it is being assigned to a string variable. However, using
non printable characters, you can get a hint on how the string has been
created:

>$a = "`a123"
>$a.length
4

>$a = '`a123'
>$a.length
5

--
greetings
dreeschkind

"Jean" <repondre@groupe.svp> wrote in message
news:mn.b03f7d6a30ab6da4.56820@windows...
> But I wanted a "mix" preserving "expand" double quote contents and
> "unexpand" single quote contents.
>
> ie to be able to do :
>
> $test="Z"
> write-host '$test'"$test"'$test'
> giving
> $testZ$test

In an expandable string you can prevent expansion by escaping the $ sign:

PS> write-host "`$test$test`$test"
$testZ$test
PS> "`$test$test`$test"
$testZ$test

A bit more fun:

PS> $a='`$test$test`$test'
PS> $a
`$test$test`$test
PS> $b='"'+$a+'"'
PS> $b
"`$test$test`$test"
PS> invoke-expression $b
$testZ$test

Or a very silly way to get the same result:

PS> "$"
$
PS> "$$test$test$$test"
$testZ$test

Jacques

> In an expandable string you can prevent expansion by escaping the $ sign:

Thank you, this complete well the topic.

Don't know yet which way I'll choice from answers.

To come back to my questioning I conclude alternate single and double
quotes in command mode as in : write-host "Y"'$X'"Y" isn't really
supported/intended and so could be breaked in future PS's releases.

Regards,

--
Jean - JMST
Belgium

> AFAIK this is not directly possible.

In fact, to be possible, imho this would imply a [unexpandedstring]
type or an "unexpanded" property in [string] type.

Regards,

--
Jean - JMST
Belgium

"Jean" <repondre@groupe.svp> wrote in message
news:mn.b5967d6a27089c2e.56820@windows...

> To come back to my questioning I conclude alternate single and double
> quotes in command mode as in : write-host "Y"'$X'"Y" isn't really
> supported/intended and so could be breaked in future PS's releases.

I hadn't thought about that. :|

I already tend to just use simple escaping when needed, inserting a ` for
any special character in a string. One thing that is particularly handy
about this approach is that you can even escape linear whitespace with `.