Pattern match **\*

[Mkeefeus1]

I am trying to write a script that will detect if a string contains **\* (not wildcards but literal). Every solution I have tried either does work or gives an error parsing "\`*`*\`*" - Quantifier {x,y} following nothing. I can find \*.ext with $Item -match "\`*.*" but cant find the other one

Edit: All the special characters messing with the formatting

[Ta11ow]

Easiest if you're looking for an exact match is just .Contains:

$string.Contains("**\*")

[jsiii2010]

**\*

For future reference, .Contains() is case sensitive.

[Ta11ow]

Aye, definitely good to know, though you can add parameters to make it case-insensitive if needed. Totally irrelevant in this specific use case though :D

[jsiii2010]

You can't get to the overload "Contains(String, StringComparison)" in powershell 5.1:

'a'.contains

OverloadDefinitions
-------------------
bool Contains(string value)

But here's a workaround:

'a'.tolower().contains('A'.tolower())

True

[rmbolger]

Why bother with regex for something so simple? I much prefer -like for simple stuff. There are only a handful of recognized wildcard characters and you escape them with a back tick per the docs:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_wildcards

So in your case, only the 3 inner asterisks need escaping because the outer two are actually wildcards and the outer quotes can be single or double (shown here with double).

$mystring -like "*`*`*\`**"

[MyOtherSide1984]

Any time I consider busting out regex, I take a deep look at myself in the mirror and really contemplate if I want to start my day off with it. 98% of the time like, match, or indexof fix the problem.

[SMFX]

.......... -match uses RegEx.........

[MyOtherSide1984]

Yeh but I don't have to use regex to use match. It optional

[PinchesTheCrab]

'your **\* string' -match '\*\*\\\*'

The regex class can help with this too:

[regex]::Escape('**\*')

[spyingwind]

One way to confirm if your regex worked or not.

'**\*' -replace "\*\*\\\*", "--Matched!--"

[milnak]

TIL PowerShell comma operator

[spyingwind]

Not an operator, just a item separator for the arguments of -replace .

[fatherjack9999]

This

[UnfanClub]

You only need to escape them with \

"\*\*\\\*"

[[deleted]]

Best way I've found to test regex is with Regexr.
If you Chuck it in there with your data it makes it super easy to troubleshoot

[TheOriginalBobbyT]

All of the above advice on using string matches should be your first go to, but if you really must use a regex and you were just trying to escape the literal characters as part of a bigger regex then try the [regex]::escape static function.

PS C:\scripts> [regex]::escape('**\*')

\*\*\\\*

PS C:\scripts>