TOPIC
    about_escape_characters

SHORT DESCRIPTION
    Introduces the escape character in Windows PowerShell and explains
    its effect.

LONG DESCRIPTION
    Escape characters are used to assign a special interpretation to
    the characters that follow it.

    In Windows PowerShell, the escape character is the backtick (`), also
    called the grave accent (ASCII 96). The escape character can be used
    to indicate a literal, to indicate line continuation, and to indicate
    special characters.

Indicating a Literal
     When an escape character precedes a Variable, it prevents a value from
     being substituted for the Variable. When an escape character precedes a
     double quotation mark, Windows PowerShell interprets the double quotation
     mark as a character, not as a string delimiter.

     For example:

         C:\>$a = 5
         C:\>”The value is stored in $a.”
         The value is stored in 5.

         C:\>$a = 5
         C:\>”The value is stored in `$a.”
         The value is stored in $a.

         C:\> “Use quotation marks (“) to indicate a string.”
         Unexpected token ‘)’ in expression or statement.
         At line:1 char:25
         + “Use quotation marks (“) <<<< to indicate a string.”

         C:\> “Use quotation marks (`”) to indicate a string.”
         Use quotation marks (“) to indicate a string.

Indicating Line Continuation
     The escape character tells Windows PowerShell that the command continues
     on the next line.

     For example:

         C:\> Get-Process `
         >> powershell

         Handles NPM(K)    PM(K)     WS(K) VM(M) CPU(s)     Id ProcessName
         ——- ——    —–     —– —– ——     — ———–
             340     8    34556     31864 149     0.98 2036 powershell

Indicating Special Characters
     When used within quotation marks, the escape character indicates a
     special character that provides instructions to the command parser.

     The following special characters are recognized by Windows PowerShell:

         `0    Null
         `a    Alert
         `b    Backspace
         `f    Form feed
         `n    New line
         `r    Carriage return
         `t    Horizontal tab
         `v    Vertical tab

     For example:

         C:\> “12345678123456781`nCol1`tColumn2`tCol3”
         12345678123456781
         Col1    Column2 Col3

     For more information, type:

         Get-Help about_Special_Characters

SEE ALSO
    about_Quoting_Rules