UTF-8 output from PowerShell

Question

I\'m trying to use Process.Start with redirected I/O to call PowerShell.exe with a string, and to get the output back, all in UTF-8. But I don\'t s

Answer 1

This is a bug in .NET. When PowerShell launches, it caches the output handle (Console.Out). The Encoding property of that text writer does not pick up the value StandardOutputEncoding property.

When you change it from within PowerShell, the Encoding property of the cached output writer returns the cached value, so the output is still encoded with the default encoding.

As a workaround, I would suggest not changing the encoding. It will be returned to you as a Unicode string, at which point you can manage the encoding yourself.

Caching example:

102 [C:\Users\leeholm]
>> $r1 = [Console]::Out

103 [C:\Users\leeholm]
>> $r1

Encoding                                          FormatProvider
--------                                          --------------
System.Text.SBCSCodePageEncoding                  en-US



104 [C:\Users\leeholm]
>> [Console]::OutputEncoding = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8

105 [C:\Users\leeholm]
>> $r1

Encoding                                          FormatProvider
--------                                          --------------
System.Text.SBCSCodePageEncoding                  en-US