Azure CLI SQL Server Create: Handling Parentheses in Admin Password in PowerShell

When you pass a new password containing parentheses, PowerShell (or the intermediary tool invoking Python) may try to interpret these characters as part of its own syntax rather than as literal text. In your example, changing the password to include “()” causes errors even though the resource might be created, because the command parser expects something inside the parentheses.

There are two common approaches to resolve this:

1. Use the Stop-Parsing Operator (--%)

Using the stop-parsing operator tells PowerShell to pass along all remaining command–line arguments exactly as written. For example:

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az --% sql server create --resource-group groupy --name servy --admin-user BigCahoona --admin-password "Abcde12345()()"

In this form, PowerShell sends the string (including the parentheses) without attempting any interpretation.

2. Properly Quote/Escape the Password

If you need to build your command using variables (like your array), you can try ensuring the password is a literal string by using single quotes (which do not allow interpolation) or by escaping the parentheses with the backtick (`), PowerShell’s escape character. For example:

Using Single Quotes:

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$Group = @("--resource-group", "groupy")
$Name  = @("--name", "servy")
$User  = @("--admin-user", "BigCahoona")
$Pass  = @("--admin-password", 'Abcde12345()()')

az sql server create $Group $Name $User $Pass

Escaping Parentheses with Backticks:

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$Group = @("--resource-group", "groupy")
$Name  = @("--name", "servy")
$User  = @("--admin-user", "BigCahoona")
$Pass  = @("--admin-password", "Abcde12345`(`)()")  # Escape opening parenthesis

az sql server create $Group $Name $User $Pass

Note: Adjust the escapes for both the opening and closing parentheses if needed. Sometimes you might have to escape both ( and ) depending on how many layers of command processing are applied.

In practice, using the stop–parsing operator is often the simplest solution if you don’t need to mix variables and require PowerShell to parse them.

Choose the method that fits your particular use-case best.