How do I remove a character from a string in PowerShell?

Replace it with nothing: $text.Replace('-', ''), or $text -replace '[()-]', '' to remove several characters at once.

How do I remove the first character of a string?

Use $text.Substring(1) or $text.Remove(0, 1). Check that the string isn't empty first.

How do I remove the last character of a string?

Use $text.Substring(0, $text.Length - 1), or $text.TrimEnd(',') if you want to remove a specific trailing character.

Why did TrimEnd('.csv') remove extra letters?

TrimEnd removes any of the characters you give it, not the text as a whole. Use $name -replace '\.csv$', '' to remove an exact ending.

How do I remove all numbers from a string?

Use $text -replace '\d', ''. Use '[^\d]' instead to keep only the numbers. See Microsoft's TrimEnd documentation .

Remove Characters from a String in PowerShell (Examples)

To remove characters from a string in PowerShell, replace them with nothing. Use .Replace() for exact characters, or -replace with a pattern to remove a whole group at once:

$phone = '(512) 555-0147'

$phone.Replace('(', '').Replace(')', '').Replace('-', '')
$phone -replace '[^\d]', ''

Output:

512 5550147
5125550147

The second line keeps only the digits, which is the easiest way to clean up a US phone number. I ran every example in PowerShell 7.6 and Windows PowerShell 5.1, with the same results.

This Tutorial Covers:

Remove the first or last character

Substring() returns part of a string. Start at position 1 to drop the first character, or stop one short of the end to drop the last:

$code = '#ATX-2026;'

"Without the first character: $($code.Substring(1))"
"Without the last character:  $($code.Substring(0, $code.Length - 1))"
"Without both:                $($code.Substring(1, $code.Length - 2))"

Output:

Without the first character: ATX-2026;
Without the last character:  #ATX-2026
Without both:                ATX-2026

PowerShell remove the first and last character from a string with Substring — Dropping the first, the last, or both characters (PowerShell 7)

$code.Remove(0, 1) also removes the first character, if you find it easier to read.

Guard against empty strings

Substring fails on an empty string, which can stop a script halfway through a list. Check the length first:

function Remove-FirstCharacter ([string]$Text) {
    if ($Text.Length -gt 0) { $Text.Substring(1) } else { $Text }
}

try { ''.Substring(1) } catch { "Substring on an empty string: $($_.Exception.InnerException.GetType().Name)" }
"Guarded function: [$(Remove-FirstCharacter '')] and [$(Remove-FirstCharacter 'Austin')]"

Output:

Substring on an empty string: ArgumentOutOfRangeException
Guarded function: [] and [ustin]

Trim characters from the start or end

TrimStart(), TrimEnd() and Trim() remove characters from the edges. The catch is that they take a set of characters, not a piece of text:

"TrimStart('0'):     $('00042'.TrimStart('0'))"
"TrimEnd(','):       $('Austin, Denver,'.TrimEnd(','))"
"Trim('*'):          $('***SALE***'.Trim('*'))"
"TrimEnd('.csv'):    $('Stats.csv'.TrimEnd('.csv'))"
"-replace '\.csv$':  $('Stats.csv' -replace '\.csv$', '')"

Output:

TrimStart('0'):     42
TrimEnd(','):       Austin, Denver
Trim('*'):          SALE
TrimEnd('.csv'):    Stat
-replace '\.csv$':  Stats

PowerShell TrimEnd removes characters not text, so .csv trims the s too — TrimEnd(‘.csv’) also removed the s from Stats (Windows PowerShell 5.1)

TrimEnd(‘.csv’) removed every trailing ., c, s and v, so Stats lost its last s too. To remove an exact ending, use -replace with $, which anchors the match to the end. The TrimEnd documentation describes this behavior.

Remove digits, punctuation or extra spaces

Character classes in -replace remove whole groups of characters at once:

$text = '  Order #1042-B: ship to Austin, TX!  '

"No digits:        [$($text -replace '\d', '')]"
"No punctuation:   [$($text -replace '[^\w\s]', '')]"
"Letters only:     [$($text -replace '[^A-Za-z]', '')]"
"Single spaces:    [$(($text -replace '\s+', ' ').Trim())]"

Output:

No digits:        [  Order #-B: ship to Austin, TX!  ]
No punctuation:   [  Order 1042B ship to Austin TX  ]
Letters only:     [OrderBshiptoAustinTX]
Single spaces:    [Order #1042-B: ship to Austin, TX!]