I'm trying to start powershell process with this command:
$command = #"
select volume = D
delete partition override
"#
$command | diskpart
When I paste it into Powershell it works but it doesn't when I'm trying to use it as an argument when starting Powershell process. How do I format the command for it to work? I tried using ' but It didn't help.
Using -EncodedCommand and converting to base64 worked.
Related
How do I have to change PowerShell code so that I can run it via CMD?
I came up with the following code:
$text_auslesen = Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt
$text_auslesen.Replace("Count :","") > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Count_only.txt
$text_auslesen = Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt
$text_auslesen.Replace("Average :","") > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Durchschnitt_only.txt
If I copy and paste it completely into a powershell, it can run. But now I have to put the code next to other code in a batch file. How do I have to adjust the code so that the cmd.exe executes the whole thing?
I suspect setting the variables via Powershell code is problematic here.
Unfortunately, a PS1 file is out of the question for my project.
To execute PowerShell commands from a batch file / cmd.exe, you need to create a PowerShell child process, using the PowerShell CLI (powershell.exe for Windows PowerShell, pwsh for PowerShell (Core) 7+) and pass the command(s) to the -Command (-c) parameter.
However, batch-file syntax does not support multi-line strings, so you have two options (the examples use two simple sample commands):
Pass all commands as a double-quoted, single-line string:
powershell.exe -Command "Get-Date; Write-Output hello > test.txt"
Do not use quoting, which allows you to use cmd.exe's line continuations, by placing ^ at the end of each line.
powershell.exe -Command Get-Date;^
Write-Output hello ^> test.txt
Note:
In both cases multiple statements must be separated with ;, because ^ at the end of a batch-file line continues the string on the next line without a newline.
Especially with the unquoted solution, you need to carefully ^-escape individual characters that cmd.exe would otherwise interpret itself, such as & and >
See this answer for detailed guidance.
Powershell -c executes PowerShell commands. You can do this from cmd, however, it looks like it needs to be run as administrator.
PowerShell -c "$text_auslesen = Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt;
$text_auslesen.Replace('Count :','') > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Count_only.txt;
$text_auslesen = Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt;
$text_auslesen.Replace('Average :','') > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Durchschnitt_only.txt"
It is possible to execute the PowerShell code in a batch file, but technically what you are doing is pulling a copy of it out and executing it someplace else. Here are 3 methods that I know of.
mklement0's answer addresses executing a copy of it that is passed as a parameter to PowerShell.
You could build a ps1 file from CMD, and then execute that ps1 file by passing it as a parameter to PowerShell.
And the method I've worked with the most is to pass specially designed PowerShell code to PowerShell that, when it runs, will load all, or part, of the current CMD file into memory and execute it there as a ScriptBlock. I have tried loading parts of the current CMD file, but my experience has been that this gets too complicated and I just stick with loading the entire current CMD file.
That last method is what I'm presenting here. The trick is to make the batch/CMD portion of the script look like a comment that is ignored by PowerShell, but still runs without throwing error messages in CMD. I'm not sure where I first found this trick, but it goes like this:
First, place <# : at the start of script. PowerShell sees this as the start of a comment, but CMD seems to ignore this line. I think CMD is trying to redirect < the contents of a non-existing file : to a non-existing command. But what does CMD do with the #? It works, and that's the important thing.
Place your batch code in lines following the <# :.
You end the batch/CMD part with a GOTO :EOF.
You then end the PowerShell comment with #>, but visually I find it easier to find <#~#>, which does the same job.
The rest of the file is your PowerShell code.
This version treats the PowerShell code as a function with defined parameters. The batch part builds %ARGS% and passes, with double quotes intact, to a PowerShell ScriptBlock that in turn is wrapped in another ScriptBlock. The PowerShell function is called twice with the same SourceFile parameter, but different DestinationFile and TextToRemove parameters. Perhaps there is a simpler way to reliably pass double quotes " in arguments passed to a ScriptBlock from batch, but this is the method I got working.
<# :
#ECHO OFF
SET f0=%~f0
SET SourceFile=%APPDATA%\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt
SET ARGS="%SourceFile%" "%APPDATA%\BIOS-Benchmark\Count_only.txt" "Count :"
PowerShell -NoProfile -Command ".([scriptblock]::Create('.([scriptblock]::Create((get-content -raw $Env:f0))) ' + $Env:ARGS))"
SET ARGS="%SourceFile%" "%APPDATA%\BIOS-Benchmark\Durchschnitt_only.txt" "Average :"
PowerShell -NoProfile -Command ".([scriptblock]::Create('.([scriptblock]::Create((get-content -raw $Env:f0))) ' + $Env:ARGS))"
GOTO :EOF
<#~#>
param (
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position = 0)]
[string]$SourceFile,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position = 1)]
[string]$DestinationFile,
[Parameter(Mandatory = $true, Position = 2)]
[string]$TextToRemove
)
(Get-Content $SourceFile).Replace($TextToRemove, '') > $DestinationFile
This script passes a single parameter that, in PowerShell, is used by the Switch command to decide which section of PowerShell you intend on executing. Since we are not passing double quotes " in the args, the PowerShell lines can be greatly simplified. Information could still be passed to PowerShell by defining environmental variables in batch and reading them in PowerShell.
<# :
#ECHO OFF
SET f0=%~f0
PowerShell -NoProfile -Command .([scriptblock]::Create((get-content -raw $Env:f0))) Script1
PowerShell -NoProfile -Command .([scriptblock]::Create((get-content -raw $Env:f0))) Script2
GOTO :EOF
<#~#>
switch ($args[0]) {
'Script1' {
(Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt).Replace("Count :", '') > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Count_only.txt
break
}
'Script2' {
(Get-Content $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\PowerShell-Protokoll-Auswertung.txt).Replace("Average :", '') > $env:APPDATA\BIOS-Benchmark\Durchschnitt_only.txt
break
}
default {}
}
The -c parameter is intended to solve this scenario.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_pwsh?view=powershell-7.2#-command---c
If possible, it would be more efficient to invoke PowerShell\Pwsh directly rather than using a cmd wrapper.
I'm struggling to use powershell to replace a string with multi-line value.
The value is from Jenkins input text parameter. So this value is a multi-line string.
I use powershell to replace {{BUILD_INFO_CHANGES}} with %BUILD_INFO_CHANGES%.
The %BUILD_INFO_CHANGES% value is
-bug1
-bug 2
Here is the script:
powershell -Command "(gc %JOB_BUILD_DIR%\ThisBuildInfo.md) -replace '{{BUILD_INFO_CHANGES}}', '%BUILD_INFO_CHANGES%' | Out-File %JOB_BUILD_DIR%\ThisBuildInfo.md"
However, I got the error response from Jenkins.
'{{BUILD_INFO_FIXED_BUGS}}', <<<< '- bug1 is missing the terminator: '. ... + FullyQualifiedErrorId : TerminatorExpectedAtEndOfString
d
And I change the script and use # to wrap the value. Here is the changed script.
powershell -Command "(gc %JOB_BUILD_DIR%\ThisBuildInfo.md) -replace '{{BUILD_INFO_CHANGES}}', #'%BUILD_INFO_CHANGES%'# | Out-File %JOB_BUILD_DIR%\ThisBuildInfo.md"
I got another error.
FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnrecognizedToken
Does anyone have a solution for this?
thanks!
The problem is using the -Command parameter for anything other than a simple script you will run into issues where characters such as curly braces and quotes will be misinterpreted by the command prompt before the are they are passed to PowerShell. You could could tie yourself in knots by adding several layers of escaping or there is a simpler way - use the -EncodedCommand parameter instead.
For the -EncodedCommand you just need to Base64 encode your command which you can do with the following PowerShell script:
$command = #'
# Enter your commands containg curly braces and quotes here
# As long as you like
'#
$bytes = [System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes($command)
$encodedCommand = [Convert]::ToBase64String($bytes) | clip.exe
This will copy the encoded command to the clipboard, then all you need to do to use your command is type:
powershell.exe -EncodedCommand
.. and then paste in your command so that you end up with something like the following:
powershell.exe -EncodedCommand IAAgACMAIABFAG4AdABlAHIAIAB5AG8AdQByACAAcwBjAHIAaQBwAHQAIABjAG8AbgB0AGEAaQBuAGcAIABjAHUAcgBsAHkAIABiAHIAYQBjAGUAcwAgAGEAbgBkACAAcQB1AG8AdABlAHMACgAgACAAIwAgAEEAcwAgAGwAbwBuAGcAIABhAHMAIAB5AG8AdQAgAGwAaQBrAGUAIAAgAA==
You now have something that is command prompt safe.
Thanks Dave! Your solution give me an idea.
Here is the easiest solution to work on Jenkins.
I put the following scripts on a Powershell build step in my Jenkins build job.
$thisBuildInfoPath="$env:JOB_BUILD_DIR\ThisBuildInfo.md"
$fixedBugs=#("$env:BUILD_INFO_FIXED_BUGS")
(gc $thisBuildInfoPath) -replace "{{BUILD_INFO_FIXED_BUGS}}", $fixedBugs | sc $thisBuildInfoPath
My PowerShell script should start an external executable with specified parameters. I have two strings: The file name, and the arguments. This is what process starting APIs usually want from me. PowerShell however fails at it.
I need to keep the executable and arguments in a separate strings because these are configured elsewhere in my script. This question is just about using these strings to start the process. Also, my script needs to put a common base path in front of the executable.
This is the code:
$execFile = "SomeSetup.exe"
$params = "/norestart /verysilent"
& "$basePath\$execFile" $params | Out-Host
# Pipe to the console to wait for it to finish
This is the actual result (does not work with this program):
Process file name: "C:\My\Base path\SomeSetup.exe"
Process command line: "/norestart /verysilent"
This is what I'd expect to have (this would work):
Process file name: "C:\My\Base path\SomeSetup.exe"
Process command line: /norestart /verysilent
The problem is that the setup recognises the extra quotes and interprets the two arguments as one - and doesn't understand it.
I've seen Start-Process but it seems to require each parameter in a string[] which I don't have. Splitting these arguments seems like a complicated shell task, not something I'd do (reliably).
What could I do now? Should I use something like
& cmd /c "$execFile $params"
But what if $execFile contains spaces which can well happen and usually causes much more headache before you find it.
You can put your parameters in an array:
$params = "/norestart", "/verysilent"
& $basepath\$execFile $params
When you run a legacy command from Powershell it has to convert the powershell variables into a single string that is the legacy command line.
The program name is always enclosed in quotes.
Any parameters that contain a space character are enclosed in double
quotes (this is of course the source of your problem)
Each element of an array forms a separate argument.
So given:
$params = "/norestart /verysilent"
& "$basePath\$execFile" $params
Powershell will run the command:
"\somepath\SomeSetup.exe" "/norestart /verysilent"
The solution is to store separate arguments in an array:
$params = "/norestart","/verysilent"
& "$basePath\$execFile" $params
will run:
"\somepath\SomeSetup.exe" /norestart /verysilent
Or if you already have a single string:
$params = "/norestart /verysilent"
& "$basePath\$execFile" ($params -split ' ')
will work as well.
$execFile = "SomeSetup.exe"
$params = "/norestart /verysilent"
Invoke-Expression ($basePath + "\" + $execFile + " " +$params)
Try it this way:
& $execFile /norestart /verysilent
Bill
Just use single quotes:
$execFile = "SomeSetup.exe"
$params = "/norestart /verysilent"
& "'$basePath\$execFile' $params" | Out-Host
# Pipe to the console to wait for it to finish
Also I would use join-path instead of concatenating the two strings:
$path = Join-Path $basePath $execFile
& "$path $params" | out-host
I need to run a remote command with help of PowerShell from CMD. This is the command I call from CMD:
powershell -command "$encpass=convertto-securestring -asplaintext mypass -force;$cred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList myuser,$encpass; invoke-command -computername "REMOTE_COMPUTER_NAME" -scriptblock {<command>} -credential $cred;"
in place of <command> (including < and > signs) can be any command which can be run in cmd.exe. For example there can be perl -e "print $^O;" or echo "Hello World!" (NOTE: There cannot be perl -e 'print $^O;', because it is incorrect command for CMD due to the single quotes). So it appears the command perl -e "print $^O;" and any other command which contains double quotes doesn't handled as expected. Here I expect it to return OS name of remote box from perl's point of view, but it prints nothing due to obscure handling of double quotes by PowerShell and/or CMD.
So the question is following, how to run command correct for CMD in remote box using PowerShell?
There are several possible problems with the command line in the OP. If the command line in the OP is being executed from Powershell itself the $encpass and $cred will get substituted before the (sub-instance) of powershell is invoked. You need to use single quotes or else escape the $ signs, for example:
powershell -command "`$encpass=2"
powershell -command '$encpass=2'
If, instead of using Powershell, the command line is executed from CMD, then ^ has to be escaped, because it is the CMD escape character.
And quoting " is a good idea as well. In a few tests that I did I had to use unbalanced quotes to get a command to work, for example, from powershell:
powershell -command "`$encpass=`"`"a`"`"`"; write-host `$encpass"
worked, but balanced quotes didn't.
To avoid all this, probably the most robust way to do this is given in powershell command line help: powershell -?:
# To use the -EncodedCommand parameter:
$command = 'dir "c:\program files" '
$bytes = [System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes($command)
$encodedCommand = [Convert]::ToBase64String($bytes)
powershell.exe -encodedCommand $encodedCommand
However there is a new feature in PS 3.0 that is also supposed to help, but I don't think it will be as robust. Described here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/powershell/archive/2012/06/14/new-v3-language-features.aspx, near the middle of the blog.
I just want to replicate the same behavior that I do on Linux systems
c:\> \{CURL_EQUIVALENT_ON_WINDOWS} - http://url/script | powershell
Is that possible?
Basically I want to execute a stream I download from a server.
IE: in steps:
1) Find out how to execute streams in a powershell.
Execute a stream (that I already have on the file system)
c:\> type script.ps1 | powershell -command -
but this doesn't work.
There is an option -File to execute a "File", and basically I want to execute the stream if possible.
2) Find out how to execute a stream I download from the server and pipe it in to a powershell.
Thanks to dugas I learn how to execute streams with powershell, and with this link http://blog.commandlinekungfu.com/2009/11/episode-70-tangled-web.html I understand how to get content as a stream from http with powershell.
So the final curl | powershell pipe looks like this:
PS C:\>(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString("http://url/script.ps1") | powershell -command -
Thanks a lot to everyone that contribute to this question :-)
You can specify the command parameter of powershell with a hyphen to make it read its command from standard input. Below is an example:
"Write-Host This is a test" | powershell -command -
Example of using contents of a script file:
Get-Content .\test.ps1 | powershell -command -
From the powershell help menu:
powershell /?
-Command
Executes the specified commands (and any parameters) as though they were
typed at the Windows PowerShell command prompt, and then exits, unless
NoExit is specified. The value of Command can be "-", a string. or a
script block.
If the value of Command is "-", the command text is read from standard
input.