Changing PowerShell's default output encoding to UTF-8

Note: The next section applies primarily to Windows PowerShell. See the section after it for the cross-platform PowerShell Core (v6+) edition. Home Public Questions Tags Users Companies Collectives ExploreCollectives Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Startcollaboratingandsharingorganizationalknowledge. CreateafreeTeam WhyTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Collectives™onStackOverflow Findcentralized,trustedcontentandcollaboratearoundthetechnologiesyouusemost. LearnmoreaboutCollectives Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. LearnmoreaboutTeams ChangingPowerShell'sdefaultoutputencodingtoUTF-8 AskQuestion Asked 5years,11monthsago Modified 8daysago Viewed 225ktimes 154 Bydefault,whenyouredirecttheoutputofacommandtoafileorpipeitintosomethingelseinPowerShell,theencodingisUTF-16,whichisn'tuseful.I'mlookingtochangeittoUTF-8. Itcanbedoneonacase-by-casebasisbyreplacingthe>foo.txtsyntaxwith|out-filefoo.txt-encodingutf8butthisisawkwardtohavetorepeateverytime. ThepersistentwaytosetthingsinPowerShellistoputthemin\Users\me\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\profile.ps1;I'veverifiedthatthisfileisindeedexecutedonstartup. Ithasbeensaidthattheoutputencodingcanbesetwith$PSDefaultParameterValues=@{'Out-File:Encoding'='utf8'}butI'vetriedthisandithadnoeffect. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/powershell/2006/12/11/outputencoding-to-the-rescue/whichtalksabout$OutputEncodinglooksatfirstglanceasthoughitshouldberelevant,butthenittalksaboutoutputbeingencodedinASCII,whichisnotwhat'sactuallyhappening. HowdoyousetPowerShelltouseUTF-8? powershellutf-8character-encoding Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedMar22,2017at12:57 mklement0 333k5858goldbadges528528silverbadges658658bronzebadges askedOct18,2016at2:54 rwallacerwallace 29.5k3434goldbadges116116silverbadges223223bronzebadges Addacomment  |  3Answers 3 Sortedby: Resettodefault Highestscore(default) Trending(recentvotescountmore) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 218 Note: ThenextsectionappliesprimarilytoWindowsPowerShell. Seethesectionafteritforthecross-platformPowerShellCore(v6+)edition. Inbothcases,theinformationappliestomakingPowerShelluseUTF-8forreadingandwritingfiles. Bycontrast,forinformationonhowtosendandreceiveUTF-8-encodedstringstoandfromexternalprograms,seethisanswer. InPSv5.1orhigher,where>and>>areeffectivelyaliasesofOut-File,youcansetthedefaultencodingfor>/>>/Out-Fileviathe$PSDefaultParameterValuespreferencevariable: $PSDefaultParameterValues['Out-File:Encoding']='utf8' Note: InWindowsPowerShell(thelegacyeditionwhoselatestandfinalversionisv5.1),thisinvariablycreatesUTF-8filewitha(pseudo)BOM. ManyUnix-basedutilitiesdonotrecognizethisBOM(seebottom);seethispostforworkaroundsthatcreateBOM-lessUTF-8files. InPowerShell(Core)v6+,BOM-lessUTF-8isthedefault(seenextsection),butifyoudowantaBOMthere,youcanuse'utf8BOM' InPSv5.0orbelow,youcannotchangetheencodingfor>/>>,but,onPSv3orhigher,theabovetechniquedoesworkforexplicitcallstoOut-File. (The$PSDefaultParameterValuespreferencevariablewasintroducedinPSv3.0). InPSv3.0orhigher,ifyouwanttosetthedefaultencodingforallcmdletsthatsupport an-Encodingparameter(whichinPSv5.1+includes>and>>),use: $PSDefaultParameterValues['*:Encoding']='utf8' Ifyouplacethiscommandinyour$PROFILE,cmdletssuchasOut-FileandSet-ContentwilluseUTF-8encodingbydefault,butnotethatthismakesitasession-globalsettingthatwillaffectallcommands/scriptsthatdonotexplicitlyspecifyanencodingviatheir-Encodingparameter. Similarly,besuretoincludesuchcommandsinyourscriptsormodulesthatyouwanttobehavethesameway,sothattheyindeedbehavethesameevenwhenrunbyanotheruseroradifferentmachine;however,toavoidasession-globalchange,usethefollowingformtocreatealocalcopyof$PSDefaultParameterValues: $PSDefaultParameterValues=@{'*:Encoding'='utf8'} ForasummaryofthewildlyinconsistentdefaultcharacterencodingbehavioracrossmanyoftheWindowsPowerShellstandardcmdlets,seethebottomsection. Theautomatic$OutputEncodingvariableisunrelated,andonlyappliestohowPowerShellcommunicateswithexternalprograms(whatencodingPowerShelluseswhensendingstringstothem)-ithasnothingtodowiththeencodingthattheoutputredirectionoperatorsandPowerShellcmdletsusetosavetofiles. Optionalreading:Thecross-platformperspective:PowerShellCore: PowerShellisnowcross-platform,viaitsPowerShellCoreedition,whoseencoding-sensibly-defaultstoBOM-lessUTF-8,inlinewithUnix-likeplatforms. Thismeansthatsource-codefileswithoutaBOMareassumedtobeUTF-8,andusing>/Out-File/Set-ContentdefaultstoBOM-lessUTF-8;explicituseoftheutf8-EncodingargumenttoocreatesBOM-lessUTF-8,butyoucanopttocreatefileswiththepseudo-BOMwiththeutf8bomvalue. IfyoucreatePowerShellscriptswithaneditoronaUnix-likeplatformandnowadaysevenonWindowswithcross-platformeditorssuchasVisualStudioCodeandSublimeText,theresulting*.ps1filewilltypicallynothaveaUTF-8pseudo-BOM: ThisworksfineonPowerShellCore. ItmaybreakonWindowsPowerShell,ifthefilecontainsnon-ASCIIcharacters;ifyoudoneedtousenon-ASCIIcharactersinyourscripts,savethemasUTF-8withBOM. WithouttheBOM,WindowsPowerShell(mis)interpretsyourscriptasbeingencodedinthelegacy"ANSI"codepage(determinedbythesystemlocaleforpre-Unicodeapplications;e.g.,Windows-1252onUS-Englishsystems). Conversely,filesthatdohavetheUTF-8pseudo-BOMcanbeproblematiconUnix-likeplatforms,astheycauseUnixutilitiessuchascat,sed,andawk-andevensomeeditorssuchasgedit-topassthepseudo-BOMthrough,i.e.,totreatitasdata. Thismaynotalwaysbeaproblem,butdefinitelycanbe,suchaswhenyoutrytoreadafileintoastringinbashwith,say,text=$(catfile)ortext=$(/>>create"Unicode"-UTF-16LE-filesbydefault-inwhicheveryASCII-rangecharacter(too)isrepresentedby2bytes-whichnotablydiffersfromSet-Content/Add-Content(seenextpoint);New-ModuleManifestandExport-CliXmlalsocreateUTF-16LEfiles. Set-Content(andAdd-Contentifthefiledoesn'tyetexist/isempty)usesANSIencoding(theencodingspecifiedbytheactivesystemlocale'sANSIlegacycodepage,whichPowerShellcallsDefault). Export-CsvindeedcreatesASCIIfiles,asdocumented,butseethenotesre-Appendbelow. Export-PSSessioncreatesUTF-8fileswithBOMbydefault. New-Item-TypeFile-ValuecurrentlycreatesBOM-less(!)UTF-8. TheSend-MailMessagehelptopicalsoclaimsthatASCIIencodingisthedefault-Ihavenotpersonallyverifiedthatclaim. Start-TranscriptinvariablycreatesUTF-8fileswithBOM,butseethenotesre-Appendbelow. Recommandsthatappendtoanexistingfile: >>/Out-File-Appendmakenoattempttomatchtheencodingofafile'sexistingcontent. Thatis,theyblindlyapplytheirdefaultencoding,unlessinstructedotherwisewith-Encoding,whichisnotanoptionwith>>(exceptindirectlyinPSv5.1+,via$PSDefaultParameterValues,asshownabove). Inshort:youmustknowtheencodingofanexistingfile'scontentandappendusingthatsameencoding. Add-Contentisthelaudableexception:intheabsenceofanexplicit-Encodingargument,itdetectstheexistingencodingandautomaticallyappliesittothenewcontent.Thanks,js2010.NotethatinWindowsPowerShellthismeansthatitisANSIencodingthatisappliediftheexistingcontenthasnoBOM,whereasitisUTF-8inPowerShellCore. ThisinconsistencybetweenOut-File-Append/>>andAdd-Content,whichalsoaffectsPowerShellCore,isdiscussedinthisGitHubissue. Export-Csv-Appendpartiallymatchestheexistingencoding:itblindlyappendsUTF-8iftheexistingfile'sencodingisanyofASCII/UTF-8/ANSI,butcorrectlymatchesUTF-16LEandUTF-16BE. Toputitdifferently:intheabsenceofaBOM,Export-Csv-AppendassumesUTF-8is,whereasAdd-ContentassumesANSI. Start-Transcript-Appendpartiallymatchestheexistingencoding:ItcorrectlymatchesencodingswithBOM,butdefaultstopotentiallylossyASCIIencodingintheabsenceofone. Cmdletsthatread(thatis,theencodingusedintheabsenceofaBOM): Get-ContentandImport-PowerShellDataFiledefaulttoANSI(Default),whichisconsistentwithSet-Content. ANSIisalsowhatthePowerShellengineitselfdefaultstowhenitreadssourcecodefromfiles. Bycontrast,Import-Csv,Import-CliXmlandSelect-StringassumeUTF-8intheabsenceofaBOM. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedNov25,2021at14:26 answeredOct18,2016at3:12 mklement0mklement0 333k5858goldbadges528528silverbadges658658bronzebadges 21 1 IsthereanywaytoforcetonotprependteBOMonWin10? – mvorisek Jan30,2019at0:27 1 @Mvorisek:InWindowsPowerShell,youcan't-youhavetorollyourownoutputfunction-seestackoverflow.com/a/34969243/45375.InPowerShellCore(alsoonWindows),BOM-lessisthedefault. – mklement0 Jan30,2019at3:13 2 Idon'tdisagree,@EliaWeiss,butit'sWindowsPowerShellspecifically,andtheyeventuallydidgetitrightinPowerShellCore. – mklement0 Apr12,2019at16:38 2 @Marc:VSCodeandothermoderncross-platformeditorscommendablydefaulttoUTF-8,which,however,meansthey'llmisinterpretANSI-encodedfiles.Notepadusesheuristicstoguesstheencoding.Thepointisthatitisonlyaguess,becauseanyUTF-8-encodedfileisalsoatechnicallyvalidANSI-encodedfile(butnotviceversa).ItwouldbegreatifeverythingonWindowsdefaultedtoUTF-8intheabsenceofaBOMthewayUnix-likeplatformsdo,butthat'snotthecase,notablynotinWindowsPowerShell,thoughfortunatelyitisnowthecaseinPowerShellCore. – mklement0 Apr17,2019at22:16 2 Towatchyourcurrentvalueifsome,justtype$PSDefaultParameterValues – Sandburg Nov7,2019at13:53  |  Show16morecomments 3 Tobeshort,use: write-output"yourtext"|out-file-append-encodingutf8"filename" Youmaywanttoputpartsofthescriptintobracessoyoucouldredirectoutputoffewcommands: { command1 command2 }|out-file-append-encodingutf8"filename" Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedMay16,2021at2:04 answeredMay24,2020at15:17 pbiespbies 6341010silverbadges2525bronzebadges 2 1 Toquotefromthequestion:"Itcanbedoneonacase-by-casebasisbyreplacingthe>foo.txtsyntaxwith|out-filefoo.txt-encodingutf8butthisisawkwardtohavetorepeateverytime."Inotherwords:you'resuggestingpreciselywhattheOPistryingtoavoid. – mklement0 Feb16,2021at21:34 1 ithink-appendshouldberemoved – SashaBond Mar3,2021at0:16 Addacomment  |  1 AdumpmadeusingPowerShellonWindowswithoutputredirectioncreatesafilethathasUTF-16encoding.Toworkaroundthisissue,youcantry: mysqldump.exe[options]--result-file=dump.sql Referencelink:mysqldump_result-file Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredOct3at9:20 PhátNguyễnThànhPhátNguyễnThành 1111bronzebadge Addacomment  |  YourAnswer ThanksforcontributingananswertoStackOverflow!Pleasebesuretoanswerthequestion.Providedetailsandshareyourresearch!Butavoid…Askingforhelp,clarification,orrespondingtootheranswers.Makingstatementsbasedonopinion;backthemupwithreferencesorpersonalexperience.Tolearnmore,seeourtipsonwritinggreatanswers. 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