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PowerShell Tip: Passing A Variable In PowerShell That Contains An Apostrophe

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PowerShell Tip: Passing A Variable In PowerShell That Contains An Apostrophe

Summary

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Issue

Unable to query AD user with Apostrophe.

Error

No Apostrophe

PS C:\ $PersonOnLeaveValue = "General User"
PS C:\ $PersonOnLeaveUsername = (Get-ADUser -Filter "Name -like '$PersonOnLeaveValue'" -Properties *).samAccountName
PS C:\ echo $PersonOnLeaveUsername generalu

With An Apostrophe

PS C:\ $PersonOnLeaveValue = "FirstName O'LastName"
PS C:\ $PersonOnLeaveUsername = (Get-ADUser -Filter "Name -like '$PersonOnLeaveValue'" -Properties *).samAccountName
Get-ADUser : Error parsing query: 'Name -like 'FirstName O'LastName'' Error Message: 'syntax error' at position: '24'. At line:1 char:27 + $PersonOnLeaveUsername = (Get-ADUser -Filter "Name -like '$PersonOnLeaveValue'" ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [Get-ADUser], ADFilterParsingException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ActiveDirectoryCmdlet:Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.ADFilterParsingException,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Management.Commands.GetADUser

Solution

We need to use Quotes and Back tick accordingly to avoid the above error

$readvalue = "William O'Brian"
#Method 1
(Get-ADUser -Filter {Name -eq $readvalue} -Properties *).SamaccountName
#Method 2
(Get-ADUser -Filter "Name -eq `$readValue" -Properties *).SamaccountName

Screenshot