Trying to use here-strings in powershell 5.1 but not working

February 21, 2023

I’m getting red squiggles when I try to use here-strings in PS 5.1. What am I missing?

function Main {
    $csv = @"
    test1,test2
    "@

    echo $csv
}
Main

Error:

White space is not allowed before the string terminator.

>Solution :

Note:

The following applies up to at least PowerShell 7.3.2
Improvements to the here-string syntax have been green-lit – both to support indentation and a single-line variant – but not yet implemented – see GitHub issue #2337.

PowerShell’s here-strings have strict syntax requirements with respect to the closing delimiter ('@ or "@):

It must be at the very start of the line – not even whitespace is allowed to precede it.

This makes it tricky to use with indented code, because the indentation cannot be maintained, as you’ve experienced:

   @'
   hi there
'@  # OK: closing delimiter is at the *very start* of the line.


   @'
   hi there
   '@  # !! BROKEN -> error "White space is not allowed before the string terminator."

Additionally, note that here-string content isn’t indentation-aware either: