windows-shell-reliability

# Windows Shell Reliability Patterns > Best practices for running commands on Windows via PowerShell and CMD. ## When to Use Use this skill when developing or debugging scripts and automation that run on Windows systems, especially when involving file paths, character encoding, or standard CLI tools. --- ## 1. Encoding & Redirection ### CRITICAL: Redirection Differences Across PowerShell Versions Older Windows PowerShell releases can rewrite native-command output in ways that break later processing. PowerShell 7.4+ preserves the byte stream when redirecting stdout, so only apply the UTF-8 conversion workaround when you are dealing with older shell behavior or a log file that is already unreadable. | Problem | Symptom | Solution | |---------|---------|----------| | `dotnet > log.txt` | `view_file` fails in older Windows PowerShell | `Get-Content log.txt | Set-Content -Encoding utf8 log_utf8.txt` | | `npm run > log.txt` | Need a UTF-8 text log with errors included | `npm run ... 2>&1 | Out-File -Encoding UTF8 log.txt` | **Rule:** Prefer native redirection as-is on PowerShell 7.4+, and use explicit UTF-8 conversion only when older Windows PowerShell redirection produces an unreadable log. --- ## 2. Handling Paths & Spaces ### CRITICAL: Quoting Windows paths often contain spaces. | ❌ Wrong | ✅ Correct | |----------|-----------| | `dotnet build src/my project/file.fsproj` | `dotnet build "src/my project/file.fsproj"` | | `& C:\Path With Spaces\bin.exe` | `& "C:\Path Wit...