How to preserve newlines when using variables in here-strings

Question:

When running the following code:

  $txt = Get-Content file1.txt

    $a = @"
     -- file start --
     $txt
     -- file end --
    "@

   $a

$txt = Get-Content file1.txt

$a = @"

-- file start --

$txt

-- file end --

All new lines are removed from the file’s contents, but just running

$txt

$txt

prints out the file without stripping the new lines.

Any idea how to get it to work as desired using the here-string?

Thanks!

Pipe $txt to Out-String inside a sub-expression.

$a = @"
    -- file start --
    $($txt | Out-String)
    -- file end --
"@

$a = @"

-- file start --

$($txt | Out-String)

-- file end --