Document new variable PSApplicationOutputEncoding

[jborean93]

PR Summary

Documents the new variable $PSApplicationOutputEncoding which is used to control the encoding PowerShell uses when reading output from an external application.

This also removes the example for $OutputEncoding as it is wrong. The $OutputEncoding variable is only used as the encoding that PowerShell writes data through the external application's stdin pipe. The command line is always a string on Windows/Linux/macOS so is unaffected by this option.

• See Add PSApplicationOutputEncoding variable PowerShell/PowerShell#21219 for the PR that is attempting to add this feature.

PR Checklist

• Descriptive Title: This PR's title is a synopsis of the changes it proposes.
• Summary: This PR's summary describes the scope and intent of the change.
• Contributor's Guide: I have read the contributors guide.
• Style: This PR adheres to the style guide.

[jborean93]

Depending on what happens with #10877, I might just revert the changes to $OutputEncoding here in favour of that PR and keep this focused on the new proposed variable.

Edit: PR has been merged so I've rebased the changes here.

[sdwheeler]

This change is not going to make it into 7.5. Closing this PR. We can reopen it if the change gets merged in a future release.

[jborean93]

@sdwheeler, any chance we can re-open this PR now that PowerShell/PowerShell#21219 has been merged?

[sdwheeler]

@jborean93 Thanks for the notification. I will rebase and take a look.

[sdwheeler]

Merge is pending release. Don't know if this is going into the next release of 7.6 or 7.5 (or both).

[learn-build-service-prod]

Learn Build status updates of commit b471605:

✅ Validation status: passed

File	Status	Preview URL	Details
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Character_Encoding.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Preference_Variables.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)

For more details, please refer to the build report.

[jborean93]

Thanks, I've been told the master branch is for 7.7 so I'll update the PR's paths. Looks like the references/7.7 folder needs to be created first though.

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Learn Build status updates of commit 93d6630:

✅ Validation status: passed

File	Status	Preview URL	Details
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Character_Encoding.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Preference_Variables.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)

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[sparrowt]

Trivial but...

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR documents the new $PSApplicationOutputEncoding variable for PowerShell 7.5, which controls the character encoding PowerShell uses when reading output from external applications. The PR also updates related documentation and fixes link references.

Key changes:

• Added comprehensive documentation for the new $PSApplicationOutputEncoding preference variable
• Updated about_Character_Encoding.md to reference the new variable alongside $OutputEncoding
• Reorganized link references to accommodate the new variable section

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Preference_Variables.md	Added new $PSApplicationOutputEncoding section with examples, updated table of preference variables, and adjusted all link references to accommodate the new entry
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Character_Encoding.md	Updated to mention three default encoding variables instead of two, added reference to $PSApplicationOutputEncoding, and reorganized link references

---

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Learn Build status updates of commit 1f6203a:

✅ Validation status: passed

File	Status	Preview URL	Details
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Character_Encoding.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Preference_Variables.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)

For more details, please refer to the build report.

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Learn Build status updates of commit 2af544a:

✅ Validation status: passed

File	Status	Preview URL	Details
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Character_Encoding.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Preference_Variables.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)

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Learn Build status updates of commit 4146a64:

✅ Validation status: passed

File	Status	Preview URL	Details
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Character_Encoding.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Preference_Variables.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)

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Learn Build status updates of commit 1f4d3cf:

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[sdwheeler]

Retrigger build

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PoliCheck Scan Report

The following report lists PoliCheck issues in PR files. Before you merge the PR, you must fix all severity-1 and severity-2 issues. The AI Review Details column lists suggestions for either removing or replacing the terms. If you find a false positive result, mention it in a PR comment and include this text: #policheck-false-positive. This feedback helps reduce false positives in future scans.

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[learn-build-service-prod]

Learn Build status updates of commit 1f4d3cf:

✅ Validation status: passed

File	Status	Preview URL	Details
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Character_Encoding.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)
reference/7.5/Microsoft.PowerShell.Core/About/about_Preference_Variables.md	✅Succeeded	View (powershell-7.5)

For more details, please refer to the build report.