Can't read file if filename contains brackets

Questions
1

Describe the problem/error/question

I’m trying to read a file but it gives an empty result if the filename contains both type of brackets. It will give a result if I remove the brackets from the filename

What is the error message (if any)?

Please share your workflow

Share the output returned by the last node

Information on your n8n setup

  • **n8n version:**1.81.4
  • **Database (default: SQLite):**default
  • **n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):**default
  • **Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app):**npm
  • **Operating system:**Windows Server 2022
2

most likely the spaces are your problems and not the brackets.
I’m unsure how Windows works (avoiding it since windows 3.1) but with Linux you would put the filename in " " to get around the problems with spaces.

3

Ok I have some windows I could spin up for testing … yes this seems to work.

CleanShot_2025-03-12_at_09.45.06
CleanShot_2025-03-12_at_09.45.061582×374 30.8 KB

so try this …

4

I tried it again with double quotes and it still doesn’t give an output

5

sorry, don’t have a windows where I could spin up n8n to see why it might not work.
I assume you have checked that n8n does have permission to access those folders and can see the files in there?

6

Yes n8n has permission to access folder/files I have tested by renaming the file. It just doesn’t like the brackets/space

7

you could also try escaping it with \

test\ file\[asdf\].mkv

but again, not sure how windows expects this to be escaped and how npm behaves in windows.

8

Escaping the brackets work. How do I auto escape all type of brackets ( ) { } [ } instead of manually inserting cause I’m watching a folder for new files

9

I would use an inline expression something like:

{{$json.path.replace('[', '\[').replace(']', '\]').replace('{', '\{').replace('}', '\}')}}
etc

10

It seems to only replace one set of brackets and it’s not reoccurring since the filename may contain multiple brackets. After testing I realized the path to file needs to use forward-slash instead of back-slash since n8n requires it even on windows which I don’t know how to do this

11

Oh yes my mistake it is .replaceAll(). You can replace spaces and backslashes as well.

I believe you need to escape backslashes as well so you do them double.

{{$json.path.replace('[', '\\[').replaceAll(']', '\\]').replaceAll('{', '\\{').replaceAll('}', '\\}')}} etc (add other replacements by appending another .replaceAll(‘’, ‘’))

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