Rename-Item throwing error when path contains '>' - powershell

Question

When I try to rename a path that contains '<' or '>' i get the
Illegal characters in path error. Strangely Rename-Item can handle other special characters like '#'.
I refuse to belive that rename-item can't handle the '<' char. Does it needs to be escaped somehow?
I'm using the Get-FolderItem cmdlet instead of Get-ChildItem (due to pathlength restrictions on gci) and passing Rename-Item a object with a fullname prop like so
Edit: I'm a noob, it's › and not >
Rename-Item -LiteralPath $fileWithChar.FullName -NewName $newNameWithoutChar
Both $filleWithChar and $newNameWithoutChar are strings.
I've tried using both -path and literalPath and it still throws the error.

Answer 1

robocopy is a Unicode application on demand, see following Logging options switches:
/unicode : Display the status output as Unicode text
/UNILOG:file : Output status to Unicode Log file (overwrite)
/UNILOG+:file : Output status to Unicode Log file (append)
Below is improved Get-FolderItem.ps1 script. Pay your attention to changes:
line 135 $params.AddRange(#("/L", … ,"/R:0","/W:0"))
changed $params.AddRange(#("/L", … ,"/R:0","/W:0","/UNILOG:robolog.txt"))
line 158 Invoke-Expression $Script | ForEach {
changed Invoke-Expression $Script | Out-Null; Get-Content robolog.txt | ForEach {
Sample output proves Unicode awareness (some names are pretty nonsensical, sorry):
PS D:\PShell> . D:\Downloads\Get-FolderItem.ps1
PS D:\PShell> $x=Get-ChildItem -path "D:\bat\UnASCII Names\*" | Get-FolderItem
WARNING: D:\bat\UnASCII Names\ěščřžýáíé.txt is not a directory and will be skipped
PS D:\PShell> $x.FullName
D:\bat\UnASCII Names\MathBoldScript (𝓜𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓑𝓸𝓵𝓭𝓢𝓬𝓻𝓲𝓹𝓽)\Mathematical Bold Script.txt
D:\bat\UnASCII Names\Türkçe (Türkiye)\çğüşöıĞÜİŞÇÖ\ĞÜİŞÇÖçğüşöı.txt
D:\bat\UnASCII Names\‹angles›\‹angles›.txt
PS D:\PShell>
Improved script uses an auxiliary file:
Function Get-FolderItem {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Lists all files under a specified folder regardless of character limitation on path depth.
.DESCRIPTION
Lists all files under a specified folder regardless of character limitation on path depth.
.PARAMETER Path
The type name to list out available constructors and parameters
.PARAMETER Filter
Optional parameter to specify a specific file or file type. Wildcards (*) allowed.
Default is '*.*'
.PARAMETER ExcludeFile
Exclude Files matching given names/paths/wildcards
.PARAMETER MaxAge
Exclude files older than n days.
.PARAMETER MinAge
Exclude files newer than n days.
.EXAMPLE
Get-FolderItem -Path "C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts"
LastWriteTime : 4/25/2012 12:08:06 PM
FullName : C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts\3_LevelDeep_ACL.ps1
Name : 3_LevelDeep_ACL.ps1
ParentFolder : C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts
Length : 4958
LastWriteTime : 5/29/2012 6:30:18 PM
FullName : C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts\AccountAdded.ps1
Name : AccountAdded.ps1
ParentFolder : C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts
Length : 760
LastWriteTime : 4/24/2012 5:48:57 PM
FullName : C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts\AccountCreate.ps1
Name : AccountCreate.ps1
ParentFolder : C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts
Length : 52812
Description
-----------
Returns all files under the PowerShell Scripts folder.
.EXAMPLE
$files = Get-ChildItem | Get-FolderItem
$files | Group-Object ParentFolder | Select Count,Name
Count Name
----- ----
95 C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\2012 12 06 SysInt
15 C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\DataMove
5 C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\HTMLReportsinPowerShell
31 C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PoshPAIG_2_0_1
30 C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PoshPAIG_2_1_3
67 C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PoshWSUS_2_1
437 C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts
9 C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Widgets
92 C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\Working
Description
-----------
This example shows Get-FolderItem taking pipeline input from Get-ChildItem and then saves
the output to $files. Group-Object is used with $Files to show the count of files in each
folder from where the command was executed.
.EXAMPLE
Get-FolderItem -Path $Pwd -MinAge 45
LastWriteTime : 4/25/2012 12:08:06 PM
FullName : C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts\3_LevelDeep_ACL.ps1
Name : 3_LevelDeep_ACL.ps1
ParentFolder : C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts
Length : 4958
LastWriteTime : 5/29/2012 6:30:18 PM
FullName : C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts\AccountAdded.ps1
Name : AccountAdded.ps1
ParentFolder : C:\users\Administrator\Desktop\PowerShell Scripts
Length : 760
Description
-----------
Gets files that have a LastWriteTime of greater than 45 days.
.INPUTS
System.String
.OUTPUTS
System.IO.RobocopyDirectoryInfo
.NOTES
Name: Get-FolderItem
Author: Boe Prox
Date Created: 31 March 2013
Version History:
Version 1.5 - 09 Jan 2014
-Fixed bug in ExcludeFile parameter; would only work on one file exclusion and not multiple
-Allowed for better streaming of output by Invoke-Expression to call the command vs. invoking
a scriptblock and waiting for that to complete before display output.
Version 1.4 - 27 Dec 2013
-Added FullPathLength property
Version 1.3 - 08 Nov 2013
-Added ExcludeFile parameter
Version 1.2 - 29 July 2013
-Added Filter parameter for files
-Fixed bug with ParentFolder property
-Added default value for Path parameter
Version 1.1
-Added ability to calculate file hashes
Version 1.0
-Initial Creation
#>
[cmdletbinding(DefaultParameterSetName='Filter')]
Param (
[parameter(Position=0,ValueFromPipeline=$True,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$True)]
[Alias('FullName')]
[string[]]$Path = $PWD,
[parameter(ParameterSetName='Filter')]
[string[]]$Filter = '*.*',
[parameter(ParameterSetName='Exclude')]
[string[]]$ExcludeFile,
[parameter()]
[int]$MaxAge,
[parameter()]
[int]$MinAge
)
Begin {
$params = New-Object System.Collections.Arraylist
$params.AddRange(#("/L","/S","/NJH","/BYTES","/FP","/NC","/NDL","/TS","/XJ","/R:0","/W:0","/UNILOG:robolog.txt"))
If ($PSBoundParameters['MaxAge']) {
$params.Add("/MaxAge:$MaxAge") | Out-Null
}
If ($PSBoundParameters['MinAge']) {
$params.Add("/MinAge:$MinAge") | Out-Null
}
}
Process {
ForEach ($item in $Path) {
Try {
$item = (Resolve-Path -LiteralPath $item -ErrorAction Stop).ProviderPath
If (-Not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $item -Type Container -ErrorAction Stop)) {
Write-Warning ("{0} is not a directory and will be skipped" -f $item)
Return
}
If ($PSBoundParameters['ExcludeFile']) {
$Script = "robocopy `"$item`" NULL $Filter $params /XF $($ExcludeFile -join ',')"
} Else {
$Script = "robocopy `"$item`" NULL $Filter $params"
}
Write-Verbose ("Scanning {0}" -f $item)
Invoke-Expression $Script | Out-Null
Get-Content robolog.txt | ForEach {
Try {
If ($_.Trim() -match "^(?<Size>\d+)\s(?<Date>\S+\s\S+)\s+(?<FullName>.*)") {
$object = New-Object PSObject -Property #{
ParentFolder = $matches.fullname -replace '(.*\\).*','$1'
FullName = $matches.FullName
Name = $matches.fullname -replace '.*\\(.*)','$1'
Length = [int64]$matches.Size
LastWriteTime = [datetime]$matches.Date
Extension = $matches.fullname -replace '.*\.(.*)','$1'
FullPathLength = [int] $matches.FullName.Length
}
$object.pstypenames.insert(0,'System.IO.RobocopyDirectoryInfo')
Write-Output $object
} Else {
Write-Verbose ("Not matched: {0}" -f $_)
}
} Catch {
Write-Warning ("{0}" -f $_.Exception.Message)
Return
}
}
} Catch {
Write-Warning ("{0}" -f $_.Exception.Message)
Return
}
}
}
}