# Siemens symbolic driver can't read tag names with brackets and slashes

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/siemens-symbolic-driver-cant-read-tag-names-with-brackets-and-slashes/111256>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [October 8, 2025, 12:53am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/siemens-symbolic-driver-cant-read-tag-names-with-brackets-and-slashes/111256 "2025-10-08T00:53:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![msmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@msmith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/msmith)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 12:53am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/siemens-symbolic-driver-cant-read-tag-names-with-brackets-and-slashes/111256/1 "2025-10-08T00:53:43Z")

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Not sure if this is a known issue or intended behavior, but I have some tag names that include brackets () and slashes / eg. (m/hr) and the symoblic siemens driver can’t read them. Yes, I know it’s cursed.

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**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 1:23am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/siemens-symbolic-driver-cant-read-tag-names-with-brackets-and-slashes/111256/2 "2025-10-08T01:23:10Z")

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Do they show up when browsing but fail to read once you make an OPC tag?

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**Author:** ![msmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@msmith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/msmith)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/siemens-symbolic-driver-cant-read-tag-names-with-brackets-and-slashes/111256/3 "2025-10-08T01:42:54Z")

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They are not visible while browsing, and do not read as an OPC tag.

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**Author:** ![nminchin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/nminchin/32/6911_2.png) [@nminchin](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/nminchin)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 9:11am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/siemens-symbolic-driver-cant-read-tag-names-with-brackets-and-slashes/111256/4 "2025-10-08T09:11:46Z")

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> [@msmith](#):
>
> Yes, I know it’s cursed.

💯

The correct response is "no SCADA can read those tag names sorry"

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**Author:** ![msmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@msmith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/msmith)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 9:18pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/siemens-symbolic-driver-cant-read-tag-names-with-brackets-and-slashes/111256/5 "2025-10-08T21:18:07Z")

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Well movicon can, using the symbolic driver, so I would say: incorrect response.

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**Author:** ![nminchin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/nminchin/32/6911_2.png) [@nminchin](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/nminchin)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 9:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/siemens-symbolic-driver-cant-read-tag-names-with-brackets-and-slashes/111256/6 "2025-10-08T21:21:04Z")

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I knew there would be an exception 🫣

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![msmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@msmith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/msmith)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2025, 9:25pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/siemens-symbolic-driver-cant-read-tag-names-with-brackets-and-slashes/111256/7 "2025-10-08T21:25:34Z")

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I am 95% sure it is actually the same driver under the hood as well, Accon AGLink. So I’d hope it would be possible in ignition.

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**Author:** ![Cody\_Morgan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@Cody\_Morgan](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Cody_Morgan)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 8:18pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/siemens-symbolic-driver-cant-read-tag-names-with-brackets-and-slashes/111256/8 "2025-10-13T20:18:32Z")

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In my testing, slashes seem to work fine. Brackets `[]` and Parentheses `()` do not seem to work. I think we can probably fix this on our side. As a workaround, if you know what the item path _should be_, you can surround the problematic part of the path in quotes, like this:

`ns=1;s=[S7-1500]PLC.Blocks.SpecialChars."!@#$%^&*()"`  
`ns=1;s=[S7-1500]PLC.Blocks.SpecialChars."[Brackets]"`

This doesn't help for browsing, but you can at least read/write the tags if you can manually create them with the quotes in the item path.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![msmith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@msmith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/msmith)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2025, 5:57am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/siemens-symbolic-driver-cant-read-tag-names-with-brackets-and-slashes/111256/9 "2025-10-14T05:57:47Z")

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Definitely works to fix the issue for now, much appreciated. Although some clarity to be added: the quotes need to go around the whole tag e.g

```python
ns=1;s=[S7-1500]PLC.Blocks.SpecialChars."tag[Brackets]"

```