Keep $ for Powershell variable in VS code snippet - powershell

Question

I’m able to save my code snippets with tabbed spacing in VS code for Powershell, but it keeps ignoring my variables by not displaying the $ for my variables when I call the snippet. It will just paste in the name and omit the $.
How do you get VS code to paste in the $ when you select your code snippet?
Here is the VS Code JSON file I'm using for my "template" snippet
{
// Place your snippets for powershell here. Each snippet is defined under a snippet name and has a prefix, body and
// description. The prefix is what is used to trigger the snippet and the body will be expanded and inserted. Possible variables are:
// $1, $2 for tab stops, $0 for the final cursor position, and ${1:label}, ${2:another} for placeholders. Placeholders with the
// same ids are connected.
// Example:
// "Print to console": {
// "prefix": "log",
// "body": [
// "console.log('$1');",
// "$2"
// ],
// "description": "Log output to console"
// }
"Template": {
"prefix": "template",
"body": [
"<#",
".SYNOPSIS",
"\t<Overview of script>",
"",
".SYNTAX",
"\t<Cmdlet-Name> -Parameter <value>",
"",
".DESCRIPTION",
"\t<Brief description of script>",
"",
".PARAMETER <Parameter_Name>",
"\t<Brief description of parameter input required. Repeat this attribute if required>",
"",
".INPUTS",
"\t<Inputs if any, otherwise state None>",
"",
".OUTPUTS",
"\t<Outputs if any, otherwise state None - example: Log file stored in C:\file.log>",
"",
".EXAMPLE",
"\t<Example goes here. Repeat this attribute for more than one example>",
"",
".REMARKS",
"\tVersion: 1.0",
"#>",
"",
"#---------------------------------------------------------[Variables]------------------------------------------------------------",
"",
"$var1 = <stuff>",
"$var2 = <stuff>",
"",
"#---------------------------------------------------------[Import Modules]--------------------------------------------------------",
"",
"Import-Module <name>",
"",
"#-----------------------------------------------------------[Functions]------------------------------------------------------------",
"",
"Function <FunctionName> {",
"\t[CmdletBindinging()]",
"\tparam(",
"\t\t[Parameter()]",
"\t\t[string]$MyOptionalParameter,",
"",
"\t\t[Parameter(Mandatory)]",
"\t\t[int]$MyMandatoryParameter",
"\t)",
"",
"\tTry{",
"\t\t<code goes here>",
"\t}",
"",
"\tCatch {",
"\t\tWrite-Host $Error.Exception",
"\t\t$Error.Exception | Out-File Out-File $env:TEMP\file.log",
"\t\tBreak",
"\t}",
"",
"\tFinally {",
"\t\t$time = Get-Date",
"\t\tcompleted at $time | Out-File $env:TEMP\file.log",
"\t}",
"}",
"",
"#-----------------------------------------------------------[Execution]------------------------------------------------------------",
"",
"<FunctionName>",
],
"description": "test"
}
}
When I call this snippet to paste the template into a new .ps1 file, it omits the all the $. How do you get those to stay?

Answer 1

Use \\$ inside a Visual Studio Code snippet body to embed a literal $.
For instance, to embed PowerShell variable $HOME, use \\$HOME.
Note: From the snippet parser's perspective, a single \ is required for escaping, but since snippets are defined as JavaScript strings, which themselves use \ as an escape character, \\ is need in order to pass a single \ through to the snippet parser.
See the docs.
As an aside:
Using $$ accidentally, somewhat works, but its purpose is not to escape, and it results in different behavior:
The location of a $$-prefixed identifier becomes a tab-stop, because Visual Studio Code interprets the sequence as follows:
The first $ becomes a literal[1], but the second $ and the identifier that follows is interpreted as a Visual Studio Code variable reference; if a built-in variable by that name doesn't exist, it is used as placeholder text.
[1] Any $ not followed by a valid Visual Studio Code placeholder name or variable reference is treated literally.