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title Encode and Decode SQL Server Identifiers | Microsoft Docs
ms.custom
ms.date 03/14/2017
ms.prod sql-server-2016
ms.reviewer
ms.suite
ms.technology
database-engine
ms.tgt_pltfrm
ms.topic article
ms.assetid bb9fe0d3-e432-42d3-b324-64dc908b544a
caps.latest.revision 7
author JennieHubbard
ms.author jhubbard
manager jhubbard

Encode and Decode SQL Server Identifiers

SQL Server delimited identifiers sometimes contain characters not supported in Windows PowerShell paths. These characters can be specified by encoding their hexadecimal values.

  1. Before you begin: Limitations and Restrictions

  2. To process special characters: Encoding an Identifier, Decoding an Identifier

Before You Begin

Characters that are not supported in Windows PowerShell path names can be represented, or encoded, as the "%" character followed by the hexadecimal value for the bit pattern that represents the character, as in "**%**xx". Encoding can always be used to handle characters that are not supported in Windows PowerShell paths.

The Encode-SqlName cmdlet takes as input a [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] identifier. It outputs a string with all the characters that are not supported by the Windows PowerShell language encoded with "%xx". The Decode-SqlName cmdlet takes as input an encoded [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] identifier and returns the original identifier.

Limitations and Restrictions

The Encode-Sqlname and Decode-Sqlname cmdlets only encode or decode the characters that are allowed in SQL Server delimited identifiers, but are not supported in PowerShell paths. These are the characters encoded by Encode-SqlName and decoded by Decode-SqlName:
Character |/ : % < > * ? [ ] |
Hexadecimal Encoding %5C %2F %3A %25 %3C %3E %2A %3F %5B %5D %7C

Encoding an Identifier

To encode a SQL Server identifier in a PowerShell path

  • Use one of two methods to encode a SQL Server identifier:

    • Specify the hexadecimal code for the unsupported character using the syntax %XX, where XX is the hexadecimal code.

    • Pass the identifier as a quoted string to the Encode-Sqlname cmdlet

Examples (Encoding)

This example specifies the encoded version of the ":" character (%3A):

Set-Location Table%3ATest

Alternatively, you can use Encode-SqlName to build a name supported by Windows PowerShell:

Set-Location (Encode-SqlName "Table:Test")

Decoding an Identifier

To decode a SQL Server identifier from a PowerShell path

Use the Decode-Sqlname cmdlet to replace the hexadecimal encodings with the characters represented by the encoding.

Examples (Decoding)

This example returns “Table:Test”:

Decode-SqlName "Table%3ATest"

See Also

SQL Server Identifiers in PowerShell
SQL Server PowerShell Provider
SQL Server PowerShell