Howto: Escape $(var) in Azure DevOps YAML

Question

variables:
  buildSelected: '1.0.0.1234'

steps:
  - powershell: |
      Write-Host "Build Selected $(buildSelected)"
      Write-Host "Escaped '$(buildSelected)'"
    displayName: "Escape variable"

I would like the value 1.0.0.1234 & '$(buildSelected)' to be printed instead of what it's printing now:

Build Selected 1.0.0.1234
Escaped '1.0.0.1234'

Answer 1

Sorry but I'm afraid Azure Devops doesn't provide the feature to escape a pipeline variable. If the variable is used in this format $(var), it will always be replaced with its value when using Write-Host to output it.

As I know in Powershell syntax, only the ` can be used to escape variables. See:

Write-Host "Build Selected `$`(buildSelected)" 

Its output : Build Selected $(buildSelected)

Not sure if it's what you need, but escaping pipeline variables with complete $(var) is not supported. Azure Devops will always replace it with its value if it matches the $(var) format.