Powershell vs C# EscapeUriString different results

Question

I have the following problem when using standard C# code and command:

Uri.EscapeUriString("[]")

I get :

"[]"

but when I'm using PowerShell:

[Uri]::EscapeUriString("[]") 

I get

"%5B%5D"

Could someone please explain me what the differences are in those method calls? And why am I getting different results? How to force PowerShell to return the same results as standard c#? Thanks in advance

Answer 1

This seems to be .NET version related. Your C# code probably uses a more recent version.

C#

// .NET 4.0
Uri.EscapeUriString("[]"); // OUTPUT: "%5B%5D"

// .NET 4.5
Uri.EscapeUriString("[]"); // OUTPUT: "[]"

PowerShell

# v5
[Uri]::EscapeUriString("[]") # OUTPUT: "%5B%5D"

# for reference
Add-Type "
using System;
namespace PowerShell
{
    public static class Uri
    {
        public static string EscapeUriString(string stringToEscape)
        {
            return System.Uri.EscapeUriString(stringToEscape);
        }
    }
}"
[PowerShell.Uri]::EscapeUriString("[]") # OUTPUT: "%5B%5D"

There is no "Standard C#". The solution would be to make sure both are using the same .NET version, or implement your own escape method.

Alternatively, use System.Net.WebUtility.UrlEncode which seems to return "%5B%5D" in both cases.