Similar to previously a answered question: Bicep/ARM XML parameter as string not parsed correctly. Which indicated you needed to escape the ">" or "<" with quotes. This is one hit a bit different. In this bicep deployment example, if the value passed in contains consecutive '>', '<' in either order, you'll receive an error similar to: "< was unexpected at this time."
the simple example bicep file is:
targetScope = 'subscription'
output esc_str string = escape_str
then deployed such as:
az deployment sub create --name test --location eastus --template-file .\BicepTest.bicep --parameters escape_str='abc<>'
my scenario is a little more complex than that. but the general idea is there.
I can get this to work if i put both the <> in quotes as such:
az deployment sub create --name test --location eastus --template-file .\BicepTest.bicep --parameters escape_str='abc"<>"'
however, that value is a variable that is passed in so it is more in the form of escape_str=$variable format (Powershell), and we don't necessarily know the combinations that will cause this to error.
I'm wondering if there is a safe way to "escape" a set of characters, or if there are other limitations. The Bicep reference doesn't indicate these characters required to be escaped.
At the moment, I have a few lines such as (also with the different combinations we have found):
$x.replace('<>','"<>"')
This works, but only for those combinations of characters, and something like ">>", ">>>" would also error as well, although the first would just give "The syntax of the command is incorrect". I'm looking for potentially a better solution for this. Any Ideas?
Consecutive "<,>" characters in bicep string parameters causing "> was unexpected at this time
I agree with Thomas on the point mentioned a variable like that: $variable="abc<>" then use it like that --parameters escape_str=`""$variable"`".
Specially when the special characters being passed to your Bicep template through PowerShell. Special characters such as <, >, or & are treated specially by PowerShell and the command shell.
When youre using powershell it provides the special character (`)
$variable = "abc<>"
This is the case with powershell.
and while using bicep deployement command you can use that
az deployment sub create --name test --location eastus --template-file .\BicepTest.bicep --parameters escape_str="`"$variable"`"
This should work fine as expected without any blocker.
Refer:
For the info related to special characters.