Cmd to powershell replace - special character

Question

I am creating a script that will copy a file, rename it and then look inside to remove certain special characters. One of these special characters is some sort of ASCII apostrophe that I cannot replicate with keys. I can copy and paste it though, however the replace function doesn't work.

Opens file > Searches for strange apostrophe ’ and replaces with nothing. I'd like it to replace it with a normal apostrophe but I don't know how this is done, and at current the biggest problem is that I can't get it to "see" this strange apostrophe that winds up in the autogenerated file I'm modifying. Any help much appreciated. Thanks :)

Apostrophe in file: ’

Normal Apostrophe: '

This is a chunk of the batch that I've isolated to test with.

        @echo off

    set YYMMDD=%DATE:~-2,2%%DATE:~-7,2%%DATE:~-10,2%
    set DDMMYYYY=%DATE:~-10,2%%DATE:~-7,2%%DATE:~-4,4%
    set YYYY-MM-DD=%DATE:~-4,4%-%DATE:~-7,2%-%DATE:~-10,2%

powershell -Command "(gc 'C:\LOCATION\Client_List_%DDMMYYYY%.csv') -replace '’', '' | Out-File 'C:\LOCATION\Client_List_%DDMMYYYY%.csv'"

    Echo Done

Answer 1

set "fileIn=C:\LOCATION\Client_List_%DDMMYYYY%.csv"
set "fileOu=C:\LOCATION\Client_List_%DDMMYYYY%.csv"
powershell -c "(gc '%fileIn%').Replace('‘‘','').Replace('’’','')|Out-File '%fileOu%'"

That strange apostrophe ’ is U+2019 Right Single Quotation Mark, supposedly a closing quote. It could be paired with a different opening quote. In above example, ‘ is U+2018 Left Single Quotation Mark.

Get-Help 'about_Quoting_Rules' says

Quotation marks are used to specify a literal string. You can enclose a string in single quotation marks (') or double quotation marks (").

In fact, PowerShell accepts two different sets of quotes:

• double quotation marks " “ ” „
• single quotation marks ' ‘ ’ ‚ ‛

AFAIK, all those quotation marks are present in most Windows ANSI code pages (1252, 1250, 1257, 1253, 1251, 1254, 1255, 1256, 1258) so they may be used literally in ANSI-saved .bat script - except the latter quotation mark ‛ U+201B Single High-Reversed-9 Quotation Mark. In such case, use $([char]0x201B) instead of '‛‛' as follows:

rem        cast [char] to `[string]`    ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓
powershell -c "(gc '%fileIn%').Replace( [string]$([char]0x201B) , '')"
rem                                             ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑

or as follows:

rem [char] can't be empty so specify `[string]`           ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓
powershell -c "(gc '%fileIn%').Replace( $([char]0x201B) , [string]'')"
rem                                     ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑↑

Analysis and explanation

Next PowerShell code snippet shows an excerpt from Unicode database (character names ending with Quotation Mark or containing Apostrophe):

PS D:> 0x22,0x27,0x00AB,0x00BB,0x2018,0x2019,0x201A,0x201B,0x201C,0x201D,0x201E,0x201F,
  0x2039,0x203A,0x2E42,0x301D,0x301E,0x301F,0x055A | Get-CharInfo | Format-Table -AutoSize

Char CodePoint                Category Description                               
---- ---------                -------- -----------                               
   " U+0022           OtherPunctuation Quotation Mark                            
   ' U+0027           OtherPunctuation Apostrophe                                
   « U+00AB    InitialQuotePunctuation Left-Pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark 
   » U+00BB      FinalQuotePunctuation Right-Pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark
   ‘ U+2018    InitialQuotePunctuation Left Single Quotation Mark                
   ’ U+2019      FinalQuotePunctuation Right Single Quotation Mark               
   ‚ U+201A            OpenPunctuation Single Low-9 Quotation Mark               
   ‛ U+201B    InitialQuotePunctuation Single High-Reversed-9 Quotation Mark     
   “ U+201C    InitialQuotePunctuation Left Double Quotation Mark                
   ” U+201D      FinalQuotePunctuation Right Double Quotation Mark               
   „ U+201E            OpenPunctuation Double Low-9 Quotation Mark               
   ‟ U+201F    InitialQuotePunctuation Double High-Reversed-9 Quotation Mark     
   ‹ U+2039    InitialQuotePunctuation Single Left-Pointing Angle Quotation Mark 
   › U+203A      FinalQuotePunctuation Single Right-Pointing Angle Quotation Mark
   ⹂ U+2E42           OtherNotAssigned Undefined                                 
   〝 U+301D            OpenPunctuation Reversed Double Prime Quotation Mark      
   〞 U+301E           ClosePunctuation Double Prime Quotation Mark               
   〟 U+301F           ClosePunctuation Low Double Prime Quotation Mark           
   ՚ U+055A           OtherPunctuation Armenian Apostrophe                       

(Output from modified Get-CharInfo cmdlet.) Original Get-CharInfo module is downloadable from http://poshcode.org/5234.

Next PowerShell script completes above results by showing some valid (and invalid in my locale) combinations of quotes:

$arrSingleQuotes = 
 ''' U+0027 Apostrophe '''                                ,
 ‘‘‘ U+2018 Left Single Quotation Mark ‘‘‘                ,
 ’’’ U+2019 Right Single Quotation Mark ’’’               ,
 ‚‚‚ U+201A Single Low-9 Quotation Mark ‚‚‚               ,
 ‛‛‛ U+201B Single High-Reversed-9 Quotation Mark ‛‛‛     ,
 ‘‘‘ U+2018 (Left/Right) Single Quotation Mark U+2019 ’’’ ,
 ’’’ U+2019 (Right/Left) Single Quotation Mark U+2018 ‘‘‘
'$arrSingleQuotes (any combination)'
 $arrSingleQuotes

$arrDoubleQoutes = 
 """ U+0022 Quotation Mark """                            ,
 “““ U+201C Left Double Quotation Mark “““                ,
 ””” U+201D Right Double Quotation Mark ”””               ,
 „„„ U+201E Double Low-9 Quotation Mark „„„               ,
 “““ U+201C (Left/Right) Double Quotation Mark U+201D ””” ,
 ””” U+201D (Right/Left) Double Quotation Mark U+201C “““
'$arrDoubleQoutes (any combination)'
 $arrDoubleQoutes

$noQuotes = @"
 « U+00AB Left-Pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark
 » U+00BB Right-Pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark
 ‟ U+201F Double High-Reversed-9 Quotation Mark
 ⹂ U+2E42 DOUBLE LOW-REVERSED-9 QUOTATION MARK
 ‹ U+2039 Single Left-Pointing Angle Quotation Mark
 › U+203A Single Right-Pointing Angle Quotation Mark
〝 U+301D Reversed Double Prime Quotation Mark
 〞U+301E Double Prime Quotation Mark
 〟U+301F Low Double Prime Quotation Mark
 ՚ U+055A Armenian Apostrophe                       
"@
'$noQuotes'
 $noQuotes

Output:

PS D:> D:\PShell\SO\41488245_quotes.ps1

$arrSingleQuotes (any combination)
' U+0027 Apostrophe '
‘ U+2018 Left Single Quotation Mark ‘
’ U+2019 Right Single Quotation Mark ’
‚ U+201A Single Low-9 Quotation Mark ‚
‛ U+201B Single High-Reversed-9 Quotation Mark ‛
‘ U+2018 (Left/Right) Single Quotation Mark U+2019 ’
’ U+2019 (Right/Left) Single Quotation Mark U+2018 ‘

$arrDoubleQoutes (any combination)
" U+0022 Quotation Mark "
“ U+201C Left Double Quotation Mark “
” U+201D Right Double Quotation Mark ”
„ U+201E Double Low-9 Quotation Mark „
“ U+201C (Left/Right) Double Quotation Mark U+201D ”
” U+201D (Right/Left) Double Quotation Mark U+201C “

$noQuotes
 « U+00AB Left-Pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark
 » U+00BB Right-Pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark
 ‟ U+201F Double High-Reversed-9 Quotation Mark
 ⹂ U+2E42 DOUBLE LOW-REVERSED-9 QUOTATION MARK
 ‹ U+2039 Single Left-Pointing Angle Quotation Mark
 › U+203A Single Right-Pointing Angle Quotation Mark
〝 U+301D Reversed Double Prime Quotation Mark
 〞U+301E Double Prime Quotation Mark
 〟U+301F Low Double Prime Quotation Mark
 ՚ U+055A Armenian Apostrophe                       

Note that ⹂ U+2E42 DOUBLE LOW-REVERSED-9 QUOTATION MARK is present in Unicode database and is properly rendered in PowerShell ISE.

Addendum: I found more candidates of quotation marks (shown merely result obtained from Excerpt_From_UnicodeDataTxt.ps1 script):

PS > $x = .\tests\Excerpt_From_UnicodeDataTxt.ps1 -SearchString "Quotation|Apostrophe" | 
    Where-Object {$_.Category -match 'Punctuation'}

PS > $x.Count
23

PS > $x

Char CodePoint Category                   Description                                       
---- --------- --------                   -----------                                       
   " U+0022    Po-OtherPunctuation        Quotation Mark                                    
   ' U+0027    Po-OtherPunctuation        Apostrophe                                        
   « U+00AB    Pi-InitialQuotePunctuation Left-Pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark         
   » U+00BB    Pf-FinalQuotePunctuation   Right-Pointing Double Angle Quotation Mark        
   ՚ U+055A    Po-OtherPunctuation        Armenian Apostrophe                               
   ‘ U+2018    Pi-InitialQuotePunctuation Left Single Quotation Mark                        
   ’ U+2019    Pf-FinalQuotePunctuation   Right Single Quotation Mark                       
   ‚ U+201A    Ps-OpenPunctuation         Single Low-9 Quotation Mark                       
   ‛ U+201B    Pi-InitialQuotePunctuation Single High-Reversed-9 Quotation Mark             
   “ U+201C    Pi-InitialQuotePunctuation Left Double Quotation Mark                        
   ” U+201D    Pf-FinalQuotePunctuation   Right Double Quotation Mark                       
   „ U+201E    Ps-OpenPunctuation         Double Low-9 Quotation Mark                       
   ‟ U+201F    Pi-InitialQuotePunctuation Double High-Reversed-9 Quotation Mark             
   ‹ U+2039    Pi-InitialQuotePunctuation Single Left-Pointing Angle Quotation Mark         
   › U+203A    Pf-FinalQuotePunctuation   Single Right-Pointing Angle Quotation Mark        
   ❮ U+276E    Ps-OpenPunctuation         Heavy Left-Pointing Angle Quotation Mark Ornament 
   ❯ U+276F    Pe-ClosePunctuation        Heavy Right-Pointing Angle Quotation Mark Ornament
   ⹂ U+2E42    Ps-OpenPunctuation         Undefined                                         
   〝 U+301D    Ps-OpenPunctuation         Reversed Double Prime Quotation Mark              
   〞 U+301E    Pe-ClosePunctuation        Double Prime Quotation Mark                       
   〟 U+301F    Pe-ClosePunctuation        Low Double Prime Quotation Mark                   
   ＂ U+FF02    Po-OtherPunctuation        Fullwidth Quotation Mark                          
   ＇ U+FF07    Po-OtherPunctuation        Fullwidth Apostrophe                              

Answer 2

I think it's a weird backtick character. At least that's what it's acting like.

If I do this:

$text = "Weird ’ Normal ' Backtick ` Weird ’ "
$text.Replace("’","")

It gives me This:

Weird  Normal ' Backtick Weird

So does this work?

powershell -Command "(gc 'C:\LOCATION\Client_List_%DDMMYYYY%.csv').replace('’’', '') |
 Out-File 'C:\LOCATION\Client_List_%DDMMYYYY%.csv'"

By doubling a normal back tick, it makes the script take the character literally. Doubling the weird apostrophe seems to do the same thing, at least in my testing that works.