Trying to pass a single command line argument to a powershell script on Windows 7, but the script does not seem to recognize any arguments. It blasts through the first lines below
foreach($arg in $args)
{
Write-Host "Arg: $arg";
}
without outputting anything that I use on the command line and fails due to $args[0] being empty. However the rest of my script works if I instead hardcode the value of the variable I am trying to assign from the command line (it simply opens that file and does something).
I was inspired by this answer Passing a variable to a powershell script via command line specifically by the link in the accepted answer, and tried using param block but that did not print out anything as well
param(
[string]$fileName
)
Write-Host "Filename: [ $fileName ]";
when invoked like script.ps1 -filename SampleFile.txt
When I simply copy/paste the first script from the link into a new script:
Write-Host "Num Args:" $args.Length;
foreach ($arg in $args)
{
Write-Host "Arg: $arg";
}
and call it as 1.ps1 1 2 3 its output is only Num Args: 0.
What am I doing wrong?
PS: If it matters, here is version information
PS Z:\> $PSVersionTable.PSVersion
Major Minor Build Revision
----- ----- ----- --------
2 0 -1 -1
I don't think it has anything to do with file linking, or registry hacking! :)
When running the example code, I also get no return when using your code. But when you make the parameter MANDATORY, it starts to display the arguments. Just need to format the PARAM Correctly, as in:
Param( [Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[string]$argument_one
)
Write-Host "Hello World $argument_one"
There you have it. Now you can call it from CMD as in:
powershell.exe -command "& 'thePSFile.ps1' -$argument_one 'it works now'"
I hope this Helps. I know, resurrected from the dead, but I thought some other people searching could see how they were almost there.
//ark
I have this problem as well. It took a while to recover what I have done previously.
First approach: make sure assoc, ftype and %PATHEXT% are set for powershell:
C:\>assoc .ps1
.ps1=Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1
C:\>ftype Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1
Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1="C:\WINDOWS\system32\windowspowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -noexit -file %1 %~2
C:\>echo %PATHEXT%
.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD;.VBS;.VBE;.JS;.JSE;.WSF;.WSH;.MSC;.py;.pyw;.ps1
But this likely will not work in windows 7 or higher.
Then edit the registry (all cautions apply here)
Edit the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1\Shell\0\Command
Set it from
"C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" "-file" "%1"
To
"C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" "-file" "%1" %~2
Good luck!
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 am new to powershell, and trying to teach myself the basics. I need to write a ps script to parse a file, which has not been too difficult.
Now I want to change it to pass a variable to the script. that variable will be the parsing string. Now, the variable will always be 1 word, and not a set of words or multiple words.
This seems uber simple yet is posing a problem for me. Here is my simple code:
$a = Read-Host
Write-Host $a
When I run the script from my command line the variable passing doesn't work:
.\test.ps1 hello
.\test.ps1 "hello"
.\test.ps1 -a "hello"
.\test.ps1 -a hello
.\test.ps1 -File "hello"
As you can see, I have tried many methos with no success, of the script taking the value an outputting it.
The script does run, and waits for me to type a value, and when I do, it echos that value.
I just want it to output my passed in value, what minuscule thing am I missing?
Thank you.
Make this in your test.ps1, at the first line
param(
[string]$a
)
Write-Host $a
Then you can call it with
./Test.ps1 "Here is your text"
Found here (English)
Here's a good tutorial on Powershell params:
PowerShell ABC's - P is for Parameters
Basically, you should use a param statement on the first line of the script
param([type]$p1 = , [type]$p2 = , ...)
or use the $args built-in variable, which is auto-populated with all of the args.
Declare the parameter in test.ps1:
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True,Position=1)]
[string]$input_dir,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[string]$output_dir,
[switch]$force = $false
)
Run the script from Run OR Windows Task Scheduler:
powershell.exe -command "& C:\FTP_DATA\test.ps1 -input_dir C:\FTP_DATA\IN -output_dir C:\FTP_DATA\OUT"
or,
powershell.exe -command "& 'C:\FTP DATA\test.ps1' -input_dir 'C:\FTP DATA\IN' -output_dir 'C:\FTP DATA\OUT'"
Passed parameter like below,
Param([parameter(Mandatory=$true,
HelpMessage="Enter name and key values")]
$Name,
$Key)
.\script_name.ps1 -Name name -Key key
Using param to name the parameters allows you to ignore the order of the parameters:
ParamEx.ps1
# Show how to handle command line parameters in Windows PowerShell
param(
[string]$FileName,
[string]$Bogus
)
write-output 'This is param FileName:'+$FileName
write-output 'This is param Bogus:'+$Bogus
ParaEx.bat
rem Notice that named params mean the order of params can be ignored
powershell -File .\ParamEx.ps1 -Bogus FooBar -FileName "c:\windows\notepad.exe"
In my batch file, I call the PowerShell script like this:
powershell.exe "& "G:\Karan\PowerShell_Scripts\START_DEV.ps1"
Now, I want to pass a string parameter to START_DEV.ps1. Let's say the parameter is w=Dev.
How can I do this?
Let's say you would like to pass the string Dev as a parameter, from your batch file:
powershell -command "G:\Karan\PowerShell_Scripts\START_DEV.ps1 Dev"
put inside your powershell script head:
$w = $args[0] # $w would be set to "Dev"
This if you want to use the built-in variable $args. Otherwise:
powershell -command "G:\Karan\PowerShell_Scripts\START_DEV.ps1 -Environment \"Dev\""
and inside your powershell script head:
param([string]$Environment)
This if you want a named parameter.
You might also be interested in returning the error level:
powershell -command "G:\Karan\PowerShell_Scripts\START_DEV.ps1 Dev; exit $LASTEXITCODE"
The error level will be available inside the batch file as %errorlevel%.
Assuming your script is something like the below snippet and named testargs.ps1
param ([string]$w)
Write-Output $w
You can call this at the commandline as:
PowerShell.Exe -File C:\scripts\testargs.ps1 "Test String"
This will print "Test String" (w/o quotes) at the console. "Test String" becomes the value of $w in the script.
When a script is loaded, any parameters that are passed are automatically loaded into a special variables $args. You can reference that in your script without first declaring it.
As an example, create a file called test.ps1 and simply have the variable $args on a line by itself. Invoking the script like this, generates the following output:
PowerShell.exe -File test.ps1 a b c "Easy as one, two, three"
a
b
c
Easy as one, two, three
As a general recommendation, when invoking a script by calling PowerShell directly I would suggest using the -File option rather than implicitly invoking it with the & - it can make the command line a bit cleaner, particularly if you need to deal with nested quotes.
Add the parameter declaration at the top of ps1 file
test.ps1
param(
# Our preferred encoding
[parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
[ValidateSet("UTF8","Unicode","UTF7","ASCII","UTF32","BigEndianUnicode")]
[string]$Encoding = "UTF8"
)
write ("Encoding : {0}" -f $Encoding)
Result
C:\temp> .\test.ps1 -Encoding ASCII
Encoding : ASCII
The answer from #Emiliano is excellent. You can also pass named parameters like so:
powershell.exe -Command 'G:\Karan\PowerShell_Scripts\START_DEV.ps1' -NamedParam1 "SomeDataA" -NamedParam2 "SomeData2"
Note the parameters are outside the command call, and you'll use:
[parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
[string]$NamedParam1,
[parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
[string]$NamedParam2
For years, I have used the cmd/DOS/Windows shell and passed command-line arguments to batch files. For example, I have a file, zuzu.bat and in it, I access %1, %2, etc. Now, I want to do the same when I call a PowerShell script when I am in a Cmd.exe shell. I have a script, xuxu.ps1 (and I've added PS1 to my PATHEXT variable and associated PS1 files with PowerShell). But no matter what I do, I seem unable to get anything from the $args variable. It always has length 0.
If I am in a PowerShell shell, instead of cmd.exe, it works (of course). But I'm not yet comfortable enough to live in the PowerShell environment full time. I don't want to type powershell.exe -command xuxu.ps1 p1 p2 p3 p4. I want to type xuxu p1 p2 p3 p4.
Is this possible, and if so, how?
The sample I cannot get to work is trivial, foo.ps1:
Write-Host "Num Args:" $args.Length;
foreach ($arg in $args) {
Write-Host "Arg: $arg";
}
The results are always like this:
C:\temp> foo
Num Args: 0
C:\temp> foo a b c d
Num Args: 0
c:\temp>
This article helps. In particular, this section:
-File
Runs the specified script in the local scope ("dot-sourced"), so that the functions and variables that the script creates are available in the current session. Enter the script file path and any parameters. File must be the last parameter in the command, because all characters typed after the File parameter name are interpreted as the script file path followed by the script parameters.
i.e.
powershell.exe -File "C:\myfile.ps1" arg1 arg2 arg3
means run the file myfile.ps1 and arg1 arg2 & arg3 are the parameters for the PowerShell script.
After digging through the PowerShell documentation, I discovered some useful information about this issue. You can't use the $args if you used the param(...) at the beginning of your file; instead you will need to use $PSBoundParameters. I copy/pasted your code into a PowerShell script, and it worked as you'd expect in PowerShell version 2 (I am not sure what version you were on when you ran into this issue).
If you are using $PSBoundParameters (and this ONLY works if you are using param(...) at the beginning of your script), then it is not an array, it is a hash table, so you will need to reference it using the key / value pair.
param($p1, $p2, $p3, $p4)
$Script:args=""
write-host "Num Args: " $PSBoundParameters.Keys.Count
foreach ($key in $PSBoundParameters.keys) {
$Script:args+= "`$$key=" + $PSBoundParameters["$key"] + " "
}
write-host $Script:args
And when called with...
PS> ./foo.ps1 a b c d
The result is...
Num Args: 4
$p1=a $p2=b $p3=c $p4=d
OK, so first this is breaking a basic security feature in PowerShell. With that understanding, here is how you can do it:
Open an Windows Explorer window
Menu Tools -> Folder Options -> tab File Types
Find the PS1 file type and click the advanced button
Click the New button
For Action put: Open
For the Application put: "C:\WINNT\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" "-file" "%1" %*
You may want to put a -NoProfile argument in there too depending on what your profile does.
You could declare your parameters in the file, like param:
[string]$param1
[string]$param2
And then call the PowerShell file like so .\temp.ps1 param1 param2....param10, etc.
Maybe you can wrap the PowerShell invocation in a .bat file like so:
rem ps.bat
#echo off
powershell.exe -command "%*"
If you then placed this file under a folder in your PATH, you could call PowerShell scripts like this:
ps foo 1 2 3
Quoting can get a little messy, though:
ps write-host """hello from cmd!""" -foregroundcolor green
if you want to invoke ps1 scripts from cmd and pass arguments without invoking the script like
powershell.exe script.ps1 -c test
script -c test ( wont work )
you can do the following
setx PATHEXT "%PATHEXT%;.PS1;" /m
assoc .ps1=Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1
ftype Microsoft.PowerShellScript.1=powershell.exe "%1" %*
This is assuming powershell.exe is in your path
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/ftype
You may not get "xuxu p1 p2 p3 p4" as it seems. But when you are in PowerShell and you set
PS > Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Scope CurrentUser
You can run those scripts like this:
./xuxu p1 p2 p3 p4
or
.\xuxu p1 p2 p3 p4
or
./xuxu.ps1 p1 p2 p3 p4
I hope that makes you a bit more comfortable with PowerShell.
I would like to output variables and values out in a PowerShell script by setting up flags and seeing the data matriculate throughout the script.
How would I do this?
For example, what would be the PowerShell equivalent to the following PHP code?
echo "filesizecounter: " . $filesizecounter
There are several ways:
Write-Host: Write directly to the console, not included in function/cmdlet output. Allows foreground and background colour to be set.
Write-Debug: Write directly to the console, if $DebugPreference set to Continue or Stop.
Write-Verbose: Write directly to the console, if $VerbosePreference set to Continue or Stop.
The latter is intended for extra optional information, Write-Debug for debugging (so would seem to fit in this case).
Additional: In PSH2 (at least) scripts using cmdlet binding will automatically get the -Verbose and -Debug switch parameters, locally enabling Write-Verbose and Write-Debug (i.e. overriding the preference variables) as compiled cmdlets and providers do.
Powershell has an alias mapping echo to Write-Output, so you can use:
echo "filesizecounter : $filesizecounter"
PowerShell interpolates, does it not?
In PHP
echo "filesizecounter: " . $filesizecounter
can also be written as:
echo "filesizecounter: $filesizecounter"
In PowerShell something like this should suit your needs:
Write-Host "filesizecounter: $filesizecounter"
Write-Host "filesizecounter : " $filesizecounter
By far the easiest way to echo in powershell, is just create the string object and let the pipeline output it:
$filesizecounter = 8096
"filesizecounter : $filesizecounter"
Of course, you do give up some flexibility when not using the Write-* methods.
echo is alias to Write-Output although it looks the same as Write-Host.
It isn't What is the difference between echo and Write-Host in PowerShell?.
echo is an alias for Write-Output, which writes to the Success output stream. This allows output to be processed through pipelines or redirected into files. Write-Host writes directly to the console, so the output can't be redirected/processed any further.
The Write-host work fine.
$Filesize = (Get-Item $filepath).length;
Write-Host "FileSize= $filesize";
It should also be mentioned, that Set-PSDebug is similar to the old-school echo on batch command:
Set-PSDebug -Trace 1
This command will result in showing every line of the executing script:
When the Trace parameter has a value of 1, each line of script is traced as it runs. When the parameter has a value of 2, variable assignments, function calls, and script calls are also traced. If the Step parameter is specified, you're prompted before each line of the script runs.
PowerShell has aliases for several common commands like echo. Type the following in PowerShell:
Get-Alias echo
to get a response:
CommandType Name Version Source
----------- ---- ------- ------
Alias echo -> Write-Output
Even Get-Alias has an alias gal -> Get-Alias. You could write gal echo to get the alias for echo.
gal echo
Other aliases are listed here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/learn/using-familiar-command-names?view=powershell-6
cat dir mount rm cd echo move rmdir chdir erase popd sleep clear h ps sort cls history pushd tee copy kill pwd type del lp r write diff ls ren
I don't know if it's wise to do so, but you can just write
"filesizecounter: " + $filesizecounter
And it should output:
filesizecounter: value
Try Get-Content .\yourScript.PS1 and you will see the content of your script.
also you can insert this line in your scrip code:
get-content .\scriptname.PS1
script code
script code
....