powershell is missing the terminator: " - powershell

Question

I have the following script code
#[string]$password = $( Read-Host "Input password, please" )
param (
[string]$ReleaseFile = $(throw "-ReleaseFile is required"),
[string]$Destination = $(throw "-Destination is required")
)
function unzipRelease($src, $dst)
{
$shell = new-object -com shell.application
$zip = $shell.NameSpace($src)
foreach($item in $zip.items())
{
$shell.Namespace($dst).copyhere($item)
}
}
# .\deployrelease.ps1 -ReleaseFile ".\deploy.zip" -Destination "."
unzipRelease –Src '$ReleaseFile' -Dst '$Destination'
I run the script with: .\deployrelease.ps1 -ReleaseFile ".\deploy.zip" -Destination "."
But I keep getting this:
PS C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\Tools> .\deployrelease.ps1 -ReleaseFile ".\deploy.zip" -Destination
The string starting:
At C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\Tools\deployrelease.ps1:19 char:16
+ unzipRelease â? <<<< "Src '$ReleaseFile' -Dst '$Destination'
is missing the terminator: ".
At C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\Tools\deployrelease.ps1:19 char:55
+ unzipRelease â?"Src '$ReleaseFile' -Dst '$Destination' <<<<
+ CategoryInfo : ParserError: (Src `'$ReleaseF...'$Destination`':String) [], ParseException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : TerminatorExpectedAtEndOfString
I couldn't find the fix as I do not see any problem.
Any help?

Answer 1

Look closely at the two dashes in
unzipRelease –Src '$ReleaseFile' -Dst '$Destination'
This first one is not a normal dash but an en-dash (– in HTML). Replace that with the dash found before Dst.

Answer 2

In my specific case of the same issue, it was caused by not having the Powershell script saved with an encoding of Windows-1252 or UFT-8 WITH BOM.

Answer 3

This can also occur when the path ends in a '' followed by the closing quotation mark.
e.g. The following line is passed as one of the arguments and this is not right:
"c:\users\abc\"
instead pass that argument as shown below so that the last backslash is escaped instead of escaping the quotation mark.
"c:\users\abc\\"

Answer 4

In your script, why are you using single quotes around the variables? These will not be expanded. Use double quotes for variable expansion or just the variable names themselves.
unzipRelease –Src '$ReleaseFile' -Dst '$Destination'
to
unzipRelease –Src "$ReleaseFile" -Dst "$Destination"

Answer 5

This error will also occur if you call .ps1 file from a .bat file and file path has spaces.
The fix is to make sure there are no spaces in the path of .ps1 file.

Answer 6

You can spot the error when using # prefix/suffix with multiline string while you actually have the ending suffix "#.
My script looked like that:
Add-Type #"
public class SomeClass {
...
}"#
and I still got the: The string is missing the terminator: "#.
Message was misleading because all I needed to do was to put "# into new line without any leading space:
Add-Type #"
public class SomeClass {
...
}
"#

Answer 7

my folder contained ' symbol. After I removed it, the issue resolved.

Answer 8

if you're using RHEL, try replacing " with ' - this fixed the error for me
cheers