Create file function automatically converts Tilde and Underscore under File Name to Underscore

[FN2]

Good day,

I'm new to power automate and was wondering if you could help me with this. whenever I am creating a file that contains ~(tilde) and {} (curly brackets) on a FileName, it automatically converts the symbols into _(underscore) is there any workaround that retains the symbol without converting it into _?

Thank you!

[wskinnermctc]

No it is one of the restricted characters and can't be used in a file name.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/restrictions-and-limitations-in-onedrive-and-sharepoint-6... 

[FN2]

Good day, thank you for taking your time answering. I saw that article  also. however, when I tried creating a file that contains these symbol ( ~, {, and } ) I managed to create one in sharepoint.

[wskinnermctc]

I found a way to get a file created to include the special character, but you have to use an HTTP POST Request.

I think when you use the step Create File, it is doing some automatic character conversion or check so that the file name can be passed through the action. I believe the Create File action probably acts similar to an HTTP request and encodes the action. They probably hard coded rules into the step to handle characters.

I made a few attempts to encode the file name in the Create File action, but I did not have success. You might try more methods of encoding or escape characters in the Create File step name, and see if you can get one that works. However, I'm not going to do more trial and error for that.

If you use an HTTP Request to POST add a new file, you can put the file name in the add section and it will use that full name without changes.

I used the reference for creating files at:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/sp-add-ins/working-with-folders-and-files-with-rest...

The example they use is the code below

POST https://{site_url}/_api/web/GetFolderByServerRelativeUrl('/Folder Name')/Files/add(url='a.txt',overwrite=true)
Authorization: "Bearer " + accessToken
Content-Length: {length of request body as integer}
X-RequestDigest: "{form_digest_value}"

"Contents of file"

I created a file named "MyTilde~Brackets}{File.docx"

My api was 

_api/web/GetFolderByServerRelativeUrl('/sites/CORP/TestingDocLibrary')/Files/add(url='MyTilde~Brackets}{File.docx',overwrite=true)

Create File HTTP Request

It made the file with the special characters.

I don't know how to deal with the Create File step and special characters, but it looks like you can use an HTTP request to get the results. Not sure why microsoft is inconsistent about how file names are created, but seems like it can be done.

However, I wouldn't attempt to put special characters in the name even if it is accepted because it could make it more complicated later when you need to call them with a different request.

Hope this helps, good luck!