How do I remove periods from file names using PowerShell?

Question

I'm trying to write a script in PowerShell that searches folders for files containing unnecessary periods, then mass removes the periods from the file names.

ex. Example.File.doc ---> ExampleFile.doc

Whenever I run the code, the console returns the following: "Rename-Item : Cannot bind argument to parameter 'NewName' because it is an empty string."

Does anyone know what the issue is?

Thanks in advance for any help!

$files = get-childitem -path "C:\XXXX\XXXX\XXXX" -Recurse 
foreach($file in $files) {

    if($file.Name -match ".") {
        $newName = $file.Name -ireplace (".", "")
        Rename-Item $file.FullName $newName
        Write-Host "Renamed" $file.Name "to $newName at Location:" $file.FullName
    }
}

Answer 1

One thing about string replacing: When I tried your example without escaping the period, it didn't replace anything and returned nothing (empty string), which I believe answers your "Cannot bind argument to parameter 'NewName' because it is an empty string"

This worked by escaping the period. Also, it works with or without the parenthesis.

$string = "the.file.name"

$newstring = $string -ireplace "\.", ""
// output: thefilename
$newstring.length
// output: 11

$othernewstring = $string -ireplace ("\.", "")
// output: thefilename
$othernewstring.length
// output: 11

// What the OP tried
$donothingstring = $string -ireplace (".", "")
// output:
$donothingstring.length
// output: 0

There is some additional information on string replace here, just for reference https://vexx32.github.io/2019/03/20/PowerShell-Replace-Operator/