Powershell -like syntax with hyphens - powershell

Question

This is probably a newb question, but I've spent a couple hours on this now.
I am creating a powershell script, trying to determine if an entry already exists.
(This is for an Exchange multi-tenant solution)
This works:
Get-GlobalAddressList | Where{$_.Identity -Like "\MyCompany_com*"}
But this fails:
Get-GlobalAddressList | Where{$_.Identity -Like "\MyCompany_com - GAL"}
For some reason I can't fathom, the spaces in the entry won't match.
Yes, I am certain that the entry \MyCompany_com - GAL exists.
I have tried every combination I can think of using -match, -eq, -contains
Any help is appreciated!
---- Edit ----------------------
Tried a new tact, still failing miserably:
$NewVal = "\MyCompany_com - GAL"
$Prop = Get-GlobalAddressList | Select Name
foreach($PropVal in $Prop.Name){
write-output "comparing: $NewVal to $PropVal"
if($NewVal -like $PropVal){write-output "MATCH"} else {write-output "no-match"}
}
The write-output 'shows' a match character for character.
I have scripted in many languages for over 3 decades, but this PowerShell crap has me baffled. #frustrated#
---- Edit #2 (showing output) ----------------------
comparing: MyCompany_com - GAL to MyCustomer_com - GAL
no-match
comparing: MyCompany_com - GAL to MyCompany_com - GAL
no-match
comparing: MyCompany_com - GAL to Default Global Address List
no-match
Any way to force a string comparison?
Are the space characters still messing me up?
---- Edit #3 (still trying) ----------------------
I created a new GlobalAddressList: "MCC-GAL" purposely with no spaces.
This still does not work:
Get-GlobalAddressList | Where{$_.Name -Like "MCC-GAL"}
However, this DOES match:
Get-GlobalAddressList | Where{$_.Name -Like "MCC?GAL"}
So in addition to the space characters, the hyphen (-) is also causing match problems. I did try to escape the hyphen: "\-", but still no match.
Is there ANY WAY to force a simple string comparison?
The method I am using to build the compared string will be what I need to match with.

Answer 1

While I had a work-around for GetAddressList, the next part of my script I was forced to figure out this issue.
Determination: I shared the same concern as #user2460798, but felt safe to disregard since I had copy/pasted to the power-shell line the GlobalAddressList name with the "normal" dash. As it turns out, the sample commands we copied contained the en-dash. Ouch, lesson learned. Over 14 hours wasted on this for my co-worker and me. #crying#
I finally stumbled upon a script, How to convert a ascii string into a decimal representative string in a powershell script?
, that with some slight modification I was able to reveal that the value stored in AD was in fact an "en-dash", [char]8211 (a normal dash is [char]045).
So, here is the command that will match the entry I was trying to retrieve:
Get-GlobalAddressList | Where{$_.Name.replace([convert]::ToChar(8211),"-") -eq "MyCompany_com - GAL"}

Answer 2

As it turns out, I was able to match on a different object in the GlobalAddressList object:
Get-GlobalAddressList | Where{$_.ConditionalCustomAttribute1 -eq "MMC"}
With this being a multi-tenant solution, we have been adding a value to the ConditionalCustomAttribute1 object, that (in our situation) will be unique and therefore suitable for testing the existence of.
This doesn't answer the original question, but it solves my scripting task.

Answer 3

What do you get if you enter just type in:
"\MyCompany_com - GAL" -like "\MyCompany_com - GAL"
If that works then it strongly suggests that the $_.Identity property has some characters in it that are different than what you think. Here is one way you can see exactly what characters a string contains:
[char[]]$stringWithOddCharacters # breaks the string into characters
[byte[]][char[]]$stringWithOddCharacters # converts each character into a byte
So you could do something like
Get-GlobalAddressList | foreach-object {
if ($_.Identity -Like "\MyCompany_com*") {
[char[]]($_.Identity.ToString())
[byte[]][char[]]($_.Identity.ToString())
}
}
to see exactly what's in the Identity property. Note that if Identity contains Unicode characters that don't convert to ASCII you'll need to change [byte[]] to [int16[]]

Answer 4

I ran across this post while searching for the -Filter switch syntax. Your first script example was correct because the -like switch should be used with a wildcard character. Try replacing -Like with -Match (no wildcard) in your second script example.