The string is missing the terminator: "

The error

PS> rg "said \"hi" src
ParserError:
Line |
   1 |  rg "said \"hi" src
     |               ~~~~~
     | The string is missing the terminator: ".

Windows PowerShell 5.1 reports the same, as TerminatorExpectedAtEndOfString.

Why it happens

In bash, \" puts a quote inside a double-quoted string. In PowerShell the backslash is an ordinary character, so "said \" is a whole string that ends at the second quote. Then hi" opens another string that never closes.

The fix

Use PowerShell's own escapes:

• Single quotes when you need no variables. Nothing inside them is special: 'said "hi'.
• A backtick before the quote inside double quotes: "said `"hi".

Quotes inside arguments to rg, git or python

Even once PowerShell parses the line, a quote inside an argument to another program may not arrive. PowerShell 7 passes it as you typed it. Windows PowerShell 5.1 drops it without a word, so a search finds nothing and doesn't say why:

PowerShell 7 finds it with the quotes as typed. In 5.1, rg gets cfg[items] and finds nothing:

rg -F -e 'cfg["items"]' src

5.1 needs them escaped for the program. In 7, rg then gets the backslashes too, and finds nothing:

rg -F -e 'cfg[\"items\"]' src

To write it once for both, put the text in a file and let the program read it from there:

Set-Content patterns.txt 'cfg["items"]'
rg -F -f patterns.txt src

For code with quotes in it, the same goes for Python: write a .py file and run it, instead of python -c.