We have a lot of existing batch files that help with the running of different perl and ruby scripts.
A batch file (e.g. test.bat) would normally be invoked like:
$ test
and within the batch file, it will set some settings and finally try to run the corresponding script file (e.g. test.pl) like this:
perl -S "%0.pl" %*
All works with cmd.exe, but today, I decided to switch to PowerShell and found out that it expands the commands. So trying to run "test" will actually run "Full\path\test.bat" and my script would complain that there is no file test.bat.pl.
Is there a way to prevent this command expansion? Rewriting all batch files is not an option.
One way is to call cmd explicitly:
cmd /c test
Related
I don't really know which part of the described technology stack the behaviour i'm describing is actually a property of - linux, or bash/sh? but it does not really matter i guess.
Anyway, on linux, in a bash or sh shell, i can run a script marked as executable in the file system without specifying the interpreter on the shell or somewhere global, but right in first line of the file,
e.g.
#!/bin/bash
#!/usr/bin/python
or even
#!/usr/bin/gcl -f
for a common lisp implementation.
Is there a general windows, powershell or cmd.exe equivalent to this?Specifically, specifying the interpreter/command line to run the script with in the script itself, rather than on the command line or in the windows registry.
If not, what are similar options? The most similar thing I know about are shortcuts. Is there something more similar?
In Windows the file extension specifies, which programs is used to Interpret a script.
You can also specify the Interpreter like "cmd": CMD /c "c:\temp\script.cmd" or with Powershell: powershell.exe script.ps1
What you can do (in Powershell) is, to specify the Version, which is used to run the script. Use #Requires -version 3.0 in first line and it will throw error on v4 cmdlets etc.
In olden days, I remember a trick we used to use to run Perl scripts within Windows cmd.exe as a simple invocation of a cmd file rather than having to run perl.exe with the script name, something like:
#rem = '
#perl -x -S %0 %*
#goto :eof
#rem ';
<insert Perl script here>
This used the rather neat trick of exploiting differences in how cmd.exe and perl.exe would handle the input script. Windows' cmd.exe would read the first three lines as three separate commands which would:
have a comment with no echo;
run perl with the same input file and arguments, without echo; and
goto the end of the file (exit) with no echo.
On the other hand, perl.exe would treat the first four lines as an assignment statement, then go on to execute the Perl script proper.
Now it's often a pain to run Powershell scripts from the cmd.exe command line since you have to use something like:
powershell -file go.ps1
I'm wondering if there's a way to encode both batch and powershell commands into a single cmd file, similar to the Perl trick, in such a way that it starts running under cmd.exe but switches to Powershell quickly after that.
If that were possible, you could run your script go.cmd simply by entering:
go
at the command line, rather than some convoluted invocation of powershell.
I know that you can ship separate cmd and ps1 files but that's in fact what I'm trying to get away from. I'm looking for a single file solution if possible.
I also know that you can base-64 encode your script or execute it as a string, provided you replace all newlines with semicolons. But that means the Powershell stuff is no longer easily editable or readable in the resulting file.
Fortunately or otherwise, Powershell knows exactly what to do with .cmd files: use CMD to run them.
#set $a=%0 && powershell -encodedcommand ZwBjACAAKAAoAGQAaQByACAAZQBuAHYAOgBgACQAYQApAC4AdgBhAGwAdQBlACAALQByAGUAcABsAGEAYwBlACAAJwAiACcALAAnACcAKQAgAHwAIABzAGUAbABlAGMAdAAgAC0AcwBrAGkAcAAgADIAIAB8ACAAcABvAHcAZQByAHMAaABlAGwAbAAgAC0A
#exit /b
"Hello from Powershell! You know it's me because cmd would never know that 2 + 2 = $(2 + 2)!"
The encoded command is
gc ((dir env:`$a).value -replace '\"','') | select -skip 2 | powershell -
Which fetches the contents of the script invoking itself, skips the stuff intended for CMD and, yes, runs Powershell on the rest.
Since we're piping commands through stdin and not having them in a proper script file there may be weirdness for more complicated scripts, doubly so if you start nesting these hybrids. I wouldn't trust this in production, but hey, it's something.
I am using mr on Windows and it allows running arbitrary commands before/after any repository action. As far as I can see this is done simply by invoking perl's system function. However something seems very wrong with my setup: when making mr run the following batch file, located in d:
#echo off
copy /Y foo.bat bar.bat
I get errors on the most basic windows commands:
d:/foo.bat: line 1: #echo: command not found
d:/foo.bat: line 2: copy: command not found
To make sure mr isn't the problem, I ran perl -e 'system( "d:/foo.bat" )' but the output is the same.
Using xcopy instead of copy, it seems the xcopy command is found since the output is now
d:/foo.bat: line 1: #echo: command not found
Invalid number of parameters
However I have no idea what could be wrong with the parameters. I figured maybe the problem is the batch file hasn't full access to the standard command environment so I tried running it explicitly via perl -e 'system( "cmd /c d:\foo.bat" )' but that just starts cmd and does not run the command (I have to exit the command line to get back to the one where I was).
What is wrong here? A detailed explanation would be great. Also, how do I solve this? I prefer a solution that leaves the batch file as is.
The echo directive is executed directly by the running command-prompt instance.
But perl is launching a new process with your command. You need to run your script within a cmd instance, for those commands to work.
Your cmd /c must work. Check if you have spaces in the path you are supplying to it.
You can use a parametrized way of passing arguments,
#array = qw("/c", "path/to/xyz.bat");
system("cmd.exe", #array);
The echo directive is not an executable and hence, it errors out.
The same is true of the copy command also. It is not an executable, while xcopy.exe is.
I have scrip contain command line:
set dir=%1
cd %dir%
test.bat
echo successful
When run this script, file test.bat (this file run phpunit) run complete then this script don't run command line echo successful.
So, how to try run to eof script.
Use call test.bat.
When you try running a batch file from another batch like in your question control does not pass back to your calling batch.
Side note: I'd usually use pushd/popd for going into directories from batch files. At least I prefer when a batch file doesn't have a side-effect on the shell I'm working on (similar rationale for setlocal). Also this solves the problem when you pass a directory on another drive (although you could do cd /d in that case.
I have a .bat that calls 3 PowerShell scripts
Basically the bat file looks like this
PScript1
Pscript2
Pscript3
After the Pscript1 the batch file does not execute Pscript2 or Pscript3, it stops and does not seem to return control to the batch file. Does anyone know what might cause this problem ?
In a batch file you would typically use && or || depending on whether or not you wanted the subsequent commands to run based on the success of previous commands e.g.:
powershell.exe .\PScript1.ps1 && powershell.exe .\PScript2.ps1
This invocation would execute the following command only if the preceeding command succeeded. You also need to specify powershell.exe as the EXE. The default action for a .ps1 is to open the file for editing.