unable to remove leftover "()" string with get-childItem in windows powershell

Question

I restored a large number of files in diverse folders from a hard drive, and they all included a string.

I removed this string in windows powershell using

get-childItem -recurse | Where {$_.name -like "*(2025_09_29 13_23_14 UTC)*"} | rename-item -newname {  $_.name  -replace "(2025_09_29 13_23_14 UTC)",""  }

but was left with all files now being named filename().file. I can't remove the "()" with the same script for some reason.

get-childItem -recurse | Where {$_.name -like "*()*"} | rename-item -newname {  $_.name  -replace "()",""  }

This command does not change my file names, and I'd really like to get rid of this remaining () string. Does anyone know what is going on here?

Answer 1

The reason you have a leftover () is due to using -replace (regex replacement operator) and parentheses being a capturing group in regular expressions. To match them literally you should've escaped them using \, see Escaping characters in the doc linked before.

Get-ChildItem -Recurse |
    Where-Object { $_.Name -like '*(2025_09_29 13_23_14 UTC)*' } |
    Rename-Item -NewName { $_.Name -replace '\(2025_09_29 13_23_14 UTC\)' }

Now, to fix your problem you can use the same approach as you have but escaping them:

Get-ChildItem -Recurse |
    Where-Object { $_.Name -like '*()*' } |
    Rename-Item -NewName { $_.Name -replace '\(\)' }

Alternatively, you can use string.Replace which is always literal:

Get-ChildItem -Recurse |
    Where-Object { $_.Name -like '*()*' } |
    Rename-Item -NewName { $_.Name.Replace('()', '') }

Answer 2

As mentioned already -replace uses regex to find and replace strings.

What fits better your needs is just regular replacement that can be achieved with Replace string function. Please see below:

"Hello World!".Replace("Hello", "Hi")

would print Hi World!.

In your case that would look like:

$_.name.Replace("(2025_09_29 13_23_14 UTC)","")

That would replace also () and won't left them behind.