> But if I'm on someone else's computer and they don't have Python or anything like it, then I would honestly just install Python. The problem is scaling this

> But if I'm on someone else's computer and they don't have Python or anything like it, then I would honestly just install Python. The problem is scaling this to many coworkers. At some point it becomes "wait for I.T. to get around to automating the install across the fleet" or make your scripts install python, ninja-like. But it sounds like you're more able to rely on python, so that probably makes more sense for you (if only so you don't have to rewrite the same script for non-Windows boxes.) > Here's my horror story. This is the reason I swore off PS, as stupid and emotionally-driven as that sounds It sounds bad enough I can totally get where you're coming from. Heck, it's basically the exact same place I'm coming from with the "strings shot my dog" quip ;) > Perhaps the issue was something about encoding? Something to do with e.g. UTF-8 BOMs or line endings (\r\n vs \n) would be top of my paranoia list. I'd break out a hex editor or binary diffing tool (I've used 010 Editor a couple times for this) if you find yourself in the same situation again. Understanding exactly when I have a single string with newlines vs when I have an array of strings with implicit newlines when joined isn't something I've got my head perfectly wrapped around yet in powershell, and could be another possible cause. > Sorry if what I'm saying does not seem very concrete. You're offering what you know, and I appreciate it :). Sorry for the short reply (I need to be somewhere...)