PowerShell string interpolation syntax - powershell

Question

I always used the following syntax to be sure that variable were expanded in a string:
"my string with a $($variable)"
I recently ran into the following syntax:
"my string with a ${variable}"
Are they equivalent? Any difference?

Answer 1

To complement marsze's helpful answer:
${...} (enclosing the variable name in { and }) is indeed always necessary if a variable name contains special characters, such as spaces, ., or -.
Not special are _ and - surprisingly and problematically - ?.
Note: : is invariably interpreted as terminating a PowerShell drive reference, in the context of namespace variable notation, or a scope specifier, irrespective of whether {...} enclosure is used or required (e.g., in $env:USERNAME or ${env:USERNAME}, env refers to the PowerShell drive representing all environment variables; in $script:foo or ${script:foo}, script refers to the script's scope and its variables).
Note:
${...} - the syntax for disambiguating a variable name - is not to be confused with $(...), which is the subexpression operator, needed to embed any expression or command that goes beyond a stand-alone variable reference in an expandable string ("..."). As such, the two syntax forms are independent of one another and may need to be combined in a given situation; e.g. "$var" / "${var}" work fine, but "$var.someProperty" / "${var}.someProperty" do not: you need "$($var.someProperty)" / "$(${var}.someProperty)"
In the context of string expansion (interpolation) inside "...", there is another reason to use ${...}, even if the variable name itself doesn't need it:
If you need to delineate the variable name from directly following non-whitespace characters, notably including ::
$foo = 'bar' # example variable
# INCORRECT: PowerShell assumes that the variable name is 'foobarian', not 'foo'
PS> "A $foobarian."
A . # Variable $foobarian doesn't exist -> reference expanded to empty string.
# CORRECT: Use {...} to delineate the variable name:
PS> "A ${foo}barian."
A barbarian.
# INCORRECT: PowerShell assumes that 'foo:' is a *namespace* (drive) reference
# (such as 'env:' in $env:PATH) and FAILS:
PS> "$foo: bar"
Variable reference is not valid. ':' was not followed by a valid variable name character.
Consider using ${} to delimit the name.
# CORRECT: Use {...} to delineate the variable name:
PS> "${foo}: bar"
bar: bar
See this answer for a comprehensive overview of PowerShell string-expansion rules.
Note that you need the same technique when string expansion is implicitly applied, in the context of passing an unquoted argument to a command; e.g.:
# INCORRECT: The argument is treated as if it were enclosed in "...",
# so the same rules apply.
Write-Output $foo:/bar
# CORRECT
Write-Output ${foo}:/bar
Finally, a somewhat obscure alternative is to `-escape the first character after the variable name, but the problem is that this only works as expected with characters that aren't part of escape sequences (see about_Special_Characters):
# OK: because `: is not an escape sequence.
PS> "$foo`: bar"
bar: bar
# NOT OK, because `b is the escape sequence for a backspace character.
PS> "$foo`bar"
baar # The `b "ate" the trailing 'r' of the variable value
# and only "ar" was the literal part.

Answer 2

${variable} is the syntax for variable names that include special characters.
(See about_Variables -> Variable names that include special characters
)
Example:
${var with spaces} = "value"
"var with spaces: ${var with spaces}"
So in your case it's basically the same as simply writing $variable

Answer 3

Note that $() is helpful for json objects:
"My json property is $($jsonObj.property)"