I have a PowerShell script which contains a single command:
pwd
When I execute it from a (Windows 10) command line window, I get the following:
d:\Hudson_Test\workspace\CadGraphics>echo %cd%
d:\Hudson_Test\workspace\CadGraphics
d:\Hudson_Test\workspace\CadGraphics>powershell -file ShowLocation.ps1
Path
----
D:\hudson_test\workspace
As you can see, the current directory moves up one directory (from d:\hudson_test\workspace\CadGraphics to D:\hudson_test\workspace) when inside the PowerShell script.
I tested this on another (Win10) machine, and on that machine, the two paths were the same.
What is going on here, and how can I keep it from happening?
It should not unless the Profile is loading it everytime. Please try with
powershell -NoProfile -File FileName.ps1
Secondly , I would like you to store that in a variable and see the result from write-host
Related
I have a powershell script that I want to run from cmd/ps any location by putting it in path.
What is the command that can achieve that ?
I m basically looking for a UNIX equivalent of putting your script in bashrc and thus available from anywhere to run.
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/path/to/script' >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc
In windows you also have the system variable PATH that's used for defining where to locate executables.
You could do the following that should be equivalent assuming you're only using Powershell:
$newPath = "c:\tmp\MyScriptPath";
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('PATH', "$($env:Path);$newPath", [EnvironmentVariableTarget]::User);
# Update the path variable in your current session; next time it's loaded directly
$env:Path = "$($env:Path);$newPath";
You can then execute your script directly in Powershell with just the name of the script.
However_ : this will not work under cmd because cmd doesn't know how to handle the ps1 script as an executable. Normally one would execute the script from cmd by calling the following:
Powershell.exe -executionpolicy remotesigned -File C:\Tmp\Script.ps1
If this is "unacceptable" for you, the easiest way is to create a bat script along with your ps1 script (same path) and add the following content :
Script.bat (Assuming you have Script.ps1 in the same folder):
#ECHO OFF
PowerShell.exe -Command "& '%~dpn0.ps1'"
PAUSE
This will create the wrapper needed to Invoke Script anywhere in your cmd as batch files can be executed from cmd
I have a need within a .bat file to change to a certain directory which is referenced by an environment variable. Something along these lines:
cd %TMP%
And this works fine from Windows CMD shell. However if I try to run the bat within a Powershell terminal window, it appears that the command simply doesn't work. This does though:
cd $Env:TMP
So I'm trying to figure out how to keep things to one .bat file but still allow users to run it under both the CMD prompt and the PS prompt. I can think of some hacky ways to check to see if I'm under CMD (as opposed to PS) but I'd like to know if there's a better solution.
One thing I noticed is that the PROMPT environment variable is present with CMD but not with Powershell but, as I say, that seems a bit hacky and potentially error-prone.
I'm not trying to pad my rep so if this has already been asked and answered, please point me to it. I just want to find something less hacky than trying to figure out which shell the bat is being run in and changing the cd command to suit it.
By the way, since it may make a difference, I'm running under Powershell 4. I could probably use a .cmd file if that would make any difference but I'd be surprised if it did.
EDIT:
I guess maybe I wasn't as clear as I could be. I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to get the value of an environment variable that will work within a .bat file that will work regardless of whether or not the .bat file is run under the cmd shell or the powershell shell.
Running batch files from PowerShell works just fine. However, since the batch files run in a different interpreter (running .\your.bat is basically the same as running cmd /c .\your.bat), changing the working directory via cd %TMP% in the (CMD) child process doesn't change the working directory for the (PowerShell) parent process.
The syntax you use for variables in batch files is always %variable%.
Demonstration:
PS C:\> $PWD.Path
C:\
PS C:\> Get-Content .\test.bat
#echo off
echo before: %CD%
cd %TMP%
echo after: %CD%
PS C:\> .\test.bat
before: C:\
after: C:\Users\me\AppData\Local\Temp
PS C:\> $PWD.Path
C:\
The batch file echoes the path of the current working directory (%CD%) before and after changing the working directory to %TMP%. The working directory of the parent process (PowerShell) remains unchanged ($PWD.Path).
The following command "Set-Location" works directly from the PowerShell command prompt:
PS C:\Windows\system32> Set-Location E:
PS E:\>
But running as -Command argument to Powershell.exe:
PS C:\Windows\system32> powershell -Command {Set-Location E:}
PS C:\Windows\system32>
The drive doesn't change.
Can anyone tell me how to achieve this using powershell.exe as I want to be able to run the commands from a file e.g. script.bat.
But of course it works try :
powershell -Command {Set-Location E:; Get-ChildItem}
And you will see the content of E:.
The explanation is that you create a new process in which you change to drive E:, then the process end and you return where you were.
You cannot.
Every process has it's own current drive and directory. When you run a sub-process any changes to the current location apply only to that process (and any other processes it starts after it changed the location). Your original process continue to use the location it had when it started the sub-process.
The same applies to environment variables: a process can influence the environment for any children it starts before it starts them, but there is no way for it to change its parent process's environment (nor to modify any child process's environment after the child has been started).
I am creating a standard windows BAT/CMD file and I want to make an IF statement to check whether or not this CMD file is run from PowerShell. How can I do that?
Edit: My underlying problem was that test.cmd "A=B" results in %1==A=B when run from CMD but %1==A and %2==B when run from PowerShell. The script itself is actually run as an old Windows Command line script in both cases, so checking for Get-ChildItem will always yield an error.
One way, it to see what your process name is, and then check its attributes:
title=test
tasklist /v /fo csv | findstr /i "test"
As long as you use a unique name in place of Test, there should be little room for error.
You will get back something like:
"cmd.exe","15144","Console","1","3,284
K","Running","GNCID6101\Athomsfere","0:00:00","test"
When I ran the above code from a bat file, my output was:
"powershell.exe","7396","Console","1","50,972
K","Running","GNCID6101\Athomsfere","0:00:00","
A potentially simpler approach that may work for you. If not, it may be suitable for others.
Create 2 separate script files: test.ps1 and test.cmd
Don't include extension when calling the script. I.e. call as <path>\test (or just test if folder is in the path environment variable.
This works because CMD prioritises which script to execute as: .bat > .cmd, whereas Powershell prioritises: .ps1 > .bat > .cmd.
The following is the output of a CMD session:
C:\Temp>copy con test.cmd
#echo cmd^Z
1 file(s) copied.
C:\Temp>copy con test.ps1
Write-Output "ps1"^Z
1 file(s) copied.
C:\Temp>.\test
cmd
C:\Temp>
And calling test from Powershell:
PS C:\Temp> .\test
ps1
PS C:\Temp>
Couldn't you try to execute a Get-ChildItem and then check %ERRORLEVEL% to see if it returns an exe not found?
http://ss64.com/nt/errorlevel.html
I read some file using PowerShell, and change current dir accordingly, but all I can do is change the current PowerShell's current dir, not the caller's dir (the cmd.exe environment that called that ps1 file). Things I tried:
powershell ch-dir.ps1 | cd
(won't work, obviously, since CD is internal command)
powershell cd $myDir
(changes current dir in PowerShell, but when script exits, the cmd environment still in original dir)
I really hope I won't need to find the script's caller process (the cmd), and make a change in it's cur-dir by-force... (or even worse - to save the dir I want in some env-var and then cd %my_var% since it would require two lines of command)
I'm not sure if this meets your needs, but if you set it up so that the only output from your powershell script is your desired new working directory, you could do this:
c:\>for /F %i IN ('powershell -noprofile -command "write-output 'c:\users'" ') DO #cd %i
c:\Users>
The cmd prompt is hosting your powershell session, unless you can figure out a way to return an exit code to the prompt that will (on exit code 99999) change directory to (predefined values, switch?). As far as powershell is concerned they're different processes.
Heres a good example for you to try:
Open a cmd prompt.
Open task manager, find cmd.exe
In your cmd prompt type Powershell
View powershell as a different process (check the PID.)
End the powershell process. Watch what happens.
Alternatively, if you need something run from cmd in a specific directory based on logic in your powershell script, you can invoke it with a cmd /c from within Powershell.