Loop through and replace backslash in filename (string) - excel

Question

I am trying to replace a \ contained in the filenames I have queried from the database. My script below loops through a CSV containing project codes. For each project code the database is queried and the project name is retrieved.
However, the projectname contains \ which I am trying to replace.
$startRow = 2
$col = 3
$excel = New-Object -COM Excel.Application
$wb = $excel.Workbooks.Open("\myprojectfolder\projectcodes.csv")
$excel.Visible = $false
for ($i = 1; $i -le $wb.Sheets.Count; $i++){
$sh = $wb.Sheets.Item($i)
$endRow = $sh.UsedRange.Rows.Count
$rangeAddress = $sh.Cells.Item($startRow,$col).Address() + ":" +
$sh.Cells.Item($endRow,$col).Address()
$sh.Range($rangeAddress).Value2 | foreach {
#GET PROJECT NAME TO APPEND TO FOLDER NAME
$projectCode = $_
$Server= "MYSERVER"
$Database = "MYDATABASE"
$SQLQuery = $("SELECT [description] FROM [dbo].[projects] WHERE [project] = '$projectCode'")
$Connection = New-Object System.Data.SQLClient.SQLConnection
$Connection.ConnectionString = "server='$Server';database='$Database';trusted_connection=true;"
$Connection.Open()
$Command = New-Object System.Data.SQLClient.SQLCommand
$Command.Connection = $Connection
$Command.CommandText = $SQLQuery
$Reader = $Command.ExecuteReader()
while ($Reader.Read()) {
$projectName = $Reader.GetValue($1)
#CHECK AND REPLACE '\' CHARACTER IN PROJECTNAME
if ($projectName -like '*\\*') {
Write-Debug "PROJECT NAME CONTAINS \"
$projectName.Replace('\\', '_')
}
$folderPath = "\\myfolder\"
$pathTogether = $folderPath + $projectCode + "_" + $projectName + "\"
New-Item -Path $pathTogether -Type Directory -force
#CHECK IF FILE EXISTS IN APPROPRIATE DIRECTORY
$testFile = $pathTogether + $projectCode + "_" + $projectName + ".xlsm"
$fileExist = Test-Path $testFile
if ($fileExist -eq $false) {
$templateFile = $folderPath + "my_template\my_template.xlsm"
Copy-Item $templateFile $pathTogether
$newPath = $pathTogether + "\my_template.xlsm"
$saveFile = $projectCode + "_" + $projectName + ".xlsm"
$renameToOLD = $projectCode + "_" + $projectName + "_RENAMED" + ".xlsm"
#RENAME PROJECT FILE TO HAVE OLD IN FILENAME
Rename-Item $newPath $saveFile
$projectxlFile = New-Object -COM Excel.Application
$projectxlFile.workbooks.open($pathTogether + "\" + $saveFile)
$queryWS = $projectxlFile.worksheets.Item("Query")
$queryWS.Cells.Item(8,2) = $projectCode
$projectxlFile.DisplayAlerts = $False
$projectxlFile.Visible = $False
$savePath = $pathTogether + $saveFile
#Add-Type -AssemblyName Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel
#$xlFixedFormat = [Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.XlFileFormat]::xlOpenXMLWorkbookMacroEnabled
$projectxlFile.ActiveWorkbook.Save()
$projectxlFile.Workbooks.Close()
$projectxlFile.Quit()
$ProcID = Get-Process |
Where-Object {$_.MainWindowHandle -eq $projectxlFile.HWND} |
Select -ExpandProperty ID
Get-Process -Id $ProcID | Stop-Process -Force
##[System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($projectxlFile)
}
}
$Connection.Close()
}
}
$excel.Workbooks.Close()
$excel.Quit()
$ProcID2 = Get-Process |
Where-Object {$_.MainWindowHandle -eq $excel.HWND} |
Select -ExpandProperty ID
Get-Process -Id $ProcID2 | Stop-Process -Force
###[System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($excel)

Answer 1

$projectName.Replace('\\', '_')
By default the Replace() method does regular string replacements, so the above would only replace double backslashes with an underscore. Also, it doesn't replace in-place, so you need to assign the modified string back to the variable:
$projectName = $projectName.Replace('\', '_')
The -like operator does wildcard matches, so you mustn't escape the backslash in that expression either, otherwise you don't even get to the replacement operation:
if ($projectName -like '*\*') {
Write-Debug 'PROJECT NAME CONTAINS \'
$projectName = $projectName.Replace('\', '_')
}