Error when trying to create a folder with New folder name = %PowershellOutput%

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Posted on by Emmanuel9

Dear community,

I get an error I can't fix when running my flow containing 2 lines:

The first runs a powershell script that at the end generate a text stored in the variable %PowershellOutput%.
The second, "Create Folder", with "New folder name" : %PowershellOutput%

This flow fails at the second step with the error below:

Correlation Id: 99df0749-7b20-4469-910f-9de256361e33

Illegal characters in path.: Microsoft.PowerPlatform.PowerAutomate.Desktop.Actions.SDK.ActionException: Can't create folder folder
into C:\Users\XXXXXXX\OneDrive - XXXX\Desktop. ---> System.ArgumentException: Illegal characters in path.
at System.IO.Path.CheckInvalidPathChars(String path, Boolean checkAdditional)
at System.IO.Path.Combine(String path1, String path2)
at Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.Modules.Folder.Actions.FolderActions.CreateFolder(Variant newFolderPath, Variant newFolderName, Variant& newFolder)
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.Modules.Folder.Actions.CreateFolder.Execute(ActionContext context)
at Microsoft.Flow.RPA.Desktop.Robin.Engine.Execution.ActionRunner.Run(IActionStatement statement, Dictionary`2 inputArguments, Dictionary`2 outputArguments)

I checked that %PowershellOutput% was not containing any "Illegal characters" by setting the value to a simple "NewFolder" without any result. (I checked with a Display Message that the value was correct).

I also tried to use an "intermediate" variable containing th %PowershellOutput% and to use it in Create Folder as "New Folder Name" but it failed to.

Any help would be very welcome.

Regards.

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Power Automate Desktop

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Agnius Bartninkas Most Valuable Professional on at

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This error indicates that your script output contains characters that are not allowed in a folder/file name by the Windows file system. Try using the following action (you can copy and paste this into PAD directly to create the action for you):
Text.Replace Text: PowershellOutput TextToFind: $'''[<>:\"/\\\\|?\\*]''' IsRegEx: True IgnoreCase: False ReplaceWith: $'''%''%''' ActivateEscapeSequences: False Result=> PowershellOutput
Paste this right after your Run PowerShell script action so that the illegal characters are replaced before you try to create the folder.
This will replace any illegal character with nothing. If you want to, you can instead pass in a whitespace by doing %" "% or an underscore or something like that.

Also, the Windows file system does not like whitespaces as the first and last characters in the file/folder name. So, I would suggest using Trim text to clean it up, as well, because scripting actions might return the value with a whitespace or even a newline at the end.
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Emmanuel9 41 on at

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Dear Agnus. Thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately after copy / paste in PAD the error remains the same.
Even if the %PowershellOutput% value seems ok ie "folder" here below:
A real headache!

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Agnius Bartninkas Most Valuable Professional on at

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Can you share some screenshots of your flow and also the parameters of the Create folder action?

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Emmanuel9 41 on at

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Sure:
The flow:

And the action:
Below the red rectangle are only numbers.
Of course I tried to manually create the new-folder inside the target folder and it works.

I also tried to replace the %PowerShellOutput% by a value, for instance "folder" that is the output of the Script, and it works perfectly.

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Agnius Bartninkas Most Valuable Professional on at

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Have you tried using Trim text on %PowershellOutput% as I previously suggested?

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Emmanuel9 41 on at

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I tried to trim inside Powershell script -> Failed.
I then add the "trim text" action directly in PAD and it works perfectly.
Many thanks!

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