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UseUTF8EncodingForHelpFile.md

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description Use UTF8 encoding for help file
ms.date 07/21/2026
ms.topic reference
title UseUTF8EncodingForHelpFile

UseUTF8EncodingForHelpFile

Severity Level: Warning

Default state: Always enabled

Description

This rule detects when an about_ help file doesn't use UTF-8 encoding. The rule verifies that help files starting with about_ and ending with .help.txt are saved in UTF-8 encoding. It uses the CurrentEncoding property of the StreamReader class to check the file's encoding.

To ensure your help files use the correct encoding, follow these guidelines:

  • When using PowerShell commands to write to files, set the encoding parameter to utf8, utf8BOM, or utf8NoBOM.
  • When creating or editing help files in a text editor, configure it to save files in UTF-8 format. Consult your editor's documentation for instructions on setting the file encoding.

Example

Noncompliant

$helpText = @'
TOPIC
  about_Contoso

SHORT DESCRIPTION
  Describes Contoso commands.
'@

$helpText | Set-Content -Path "about_Contoso.help.txt" -Encoding Unicode

Compliant

$helpText = @'
TOPIC
  about_Contoso

SHORT DESCRIPTION
  Describes Contoso commands.
'@

$helpText | Set-Content -Path "about_Contoso.help.txt" -Encoding utf8NoBOM

Configure rule

This rule is always enabled and isn't configurable. Use one of the following methods to avoid using this rule:

  • Create a custom rule configuration file to include only the rules you want or exclude the rules you don't want.
  • Add the appropriate rule suppression attributes to your code to suppress the rule for specific code blocks. For more information, see the Suppressing rules section of Using PSScriptAnalyzer.

See also

For more information, see the following articles: