Vista - How to run PS script with parameters from cmd batch file?

I’d like to run a PS script with parameters from a cmd batch file. These
parameters are actually batch variables like %1, %2, %MyEnvVar% and etc. The
commands:

powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 ‘%1’ ‘%2’ ‘%MyEnvVar%’
powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 “%1� “%2� “%MyEnvVar%�
powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 “’%1’� “’%2’� “’%MyEnvVar%’�

are not good at all if parameter values contains for example `, ‘ or $.

Such a simple task becomes very tricky because of the current (I hope)
PowerShell command line syntax.

The syntax:

powershell.exe ... [-Command] string [remainingArgs]

is not enough for using in batch files. It is also pain not to forget to
escape all/some special symbols manually in cmd command line. Files names do
contain symbols `’$#{}()[] and etc.

I would like to have alternative like

powershell.exe ... -Script script.ps1 [scriptArgs]

where scriptArgs are passed to script.ps1 as they are. WSH, Perl, ... can do
that.

Well, I solved the problem with a Perl script which escapes PS special
symbols and recalls powershell.exe. Thus, now in command files I do

Run-PS.pl - .\MyScript.ps1 “%1� “%2� “%MyEnvVar%�

The idea of mentioned Perl script:

# Run-PS.pl
for(my $e = 0; $e <= $#ARGV; ++$e)
{
# all before ‘-‘ is unchanged
next if $ARGV[$e] ne '-';
# ‘-‘ is converted into ‘&’
$ARGV[$e] = '"&"';
# all after ‘-‘ is escaped
for(++$e; $e <= $#ARGV; ++$e)
{
$ARGV[$e] =~ s/([ `'"@#(){}[]\$])/`$1/g;
}
}
system 'powershell.exe', @ARGV;

I do not really like necessity of this workaround. Any other ideas?

--
Thanks,
Roman

Sorry for a mistake in my Perl script. The correction is here:

# Run-PS.pl
for(my $e = 0; $e <= $#ARGV; ++$e)
{
next if $ARGV[$e] ne '-';
$ARGV[$e] = '"&"';
for(++$e; $e <= $#ARGV; ++$e)
{
$ARGV[$e] =~ s/([ `'"@#(){}\[\]\$])/`$1/g;
}
}
system 'powershell.exe', @ARGV;

Well, I did I quick test. I'm not sure wheather this helps you with your
problem regarding batch variables (I'm not an expert in batch scripting), but
this is what I noticed:

# the content of my test script (which is in $pshome directory)
>Get-Content test.ps1
$foo = $args
$foo | Get-Member
Write-Host $foo

# testing from cmd.exe (your path to powershell.exe might differ)
C:\>"C:\Programme\Windows PowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoLogo -NoProfile
-Noninteractive -Command test.ps1 "foobar,123,$pshome (Get-Date)"

Noticed that the output of the Write-Host cmdlet in the test.ps1 script is
written to the console between the member information of System.Object[] and
System.DateTime.

PowerShell formatting still puzzles me.

--
greetings
dreeschkind

"Roman Kuzmin" wrote:

> I’d like to run a PS script with parameters from a cmd batch file. These
> parameters are actually batch variables like %1, %2, %MyEnvVar% and etc. The
> commands:
>
> powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 ‘%1’ ‘%2’ ‘%MyEnvVar%’
> powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 “%1� “%2� “%MyEnvVar%�
> powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 “’%1’� “’%2’� “’%MyEnvVar%’�
>
> are not good at all if parameter values contains for example `, ‘ or $.
>
> Such a simple task becomes very tricky because of the current (I hope)
> PowerShell command line syntax.
>
> The syntax:
>
> powershell.exe ... [-Command] string [remainingArgs]
>
> is not enough for using in batch files. It is also pain not to forget to
> escape all/some special symbols manually in cmd command line. Files names do
> contain symbols `’$#{}()[] and etc.
>
> I would like to have alternative like
>
> powershell.exe ... -Script script.ps1 [scriptArgs]
>
> where scriptArgs are passed to script.ps1 as they are. WSH, Perl, ... can do
> that.
>
> Well, I solved the problem with a Perl script which escapes PS special
> symbols and recalls powershell.exe. Thus, now in command files I do
>
> Run-PS.pl - .\MyScript.ps1 “%1� “%2� “%MyEnvVar%�
>
> The idea of mentioned Perl script:
>
> # Run-PS.pl
> for(my $e = 0; $e <= $#ARGV; ++$e)
> {
> # all before ‘-‘ is unchanged
> next if $ARGV[$e] ne '-';
> # ‘-‘ is converted into ‘&’
> $ARGV[$e] = '"&"';
> # all after ‘-‘ is escaped
> for(++$e; $e <= $#ARGV; ++$e)
> {
> $ARGV[$e] =~ s/([ `'"@#(){}[]\$])/`$1/g;
> }
> }
> system 'powershell.exe', @ARGV;
>
> I do not really like necessity of this workaround. Any other ideas?
>
> --
> Thanks,
> Roman

Yes, it is funny. Meanwhile I think your issue should be better posted as a
separate thread, I do not see any relations with this thread.
--
Thanks,
Roman


"dreeschkind" wrote:

> Well, I did I quick test. I'm not sure wheather this helps you with your
> problem regarding batch variables (I'm not an expert in batch scripting), but
> this is what I noticed:
>
> # the content of my test script (which is in $pshome directory)
> >Get-Content test.ps1
> $foo = $args
> $foo | Get-Member
> Write-Host $foo
>
> # testing from cmd.exe (your path to powershell.exe might differ)
> C:\>"C:\Programme\Windows PowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoLogo -NoProfile
> -Noninteractive -Command test.ps1 "foobar,123,$pshome (Get-Date)"
>
> Noticed that the output of the Write-Host cmdlet in the test.ps1 script is
> written to the console between the member information of System.Object[] and
> System.DateTime.
>
> PowerShell formatting still puzzles me.
>
> --
> greetings
> dreeschkind
>
> "Roman Kuzmin" wrote:
>
> > I’d like to run a PS script with parameters from a cmd batch file. These
> > parameters are actually batch variables like %1, %2, %MyEnvVar% and etc. The
> > commands:
> >
> > powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 ‘%1’ ‘%2’ ‘%MyEnvVar%’
> > powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 “%1� “%2� “%MyEnvVar%�
> > powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 “’%1’� “’%2’� “’%MyEnvVar%’�
> >
> > are not good at all if parameter values contains for example `, ‘ or $.
> >
> > Such a simple task becomes very tricky because of the current (I hope)
> > PowerShell command line syntax.
> >
> > The syntax:
> >
> > powershell.exe ... [-Command] string [remainingArgs]
> >
> > is not enough for using in batch files. It is also pain not to forget to
> > escape all/some special symbols manually in cmd command line. Files names do
> > contain symbols `’$#{}()[] and etc.
> >
> > I would like to have alternative like
> >
> > powershell.exe ... -Script script.ps1 [scriptArgs]
> >
> > where scriptArgs are passed to script.ps1 as they are. WSH, Perl, ... can do
> > that.
> >
> > Well, I solved the problem with a Perl script which escapes PS special
> > symbols and recalls powershell.exe. Thus, now in command files I do
> >
> > Run-PS.pl - .\MyScript.ps1 “%1� “%2� “%MyEnvVar%�
> >
> > The idea of mentioned Perl script:
> >
> > # Run-PS.pl
> > for(my $e = 0; $e <= $#ARGV; ++$e)
> > {
> > # all before ‘-‘ is unchanged
> > next if $ARGV[$e] ne '-';
> > # ‘-‘ is converted into ‘&’
> > $ARGV[$e] = '"&"';
> > # all after ‘-‘ is escaped
> > for(++$e; $e <= $#ARGV; ++$e)
> > {
> > $ARGV[$e] =~ s/([ `'"@#(){}[]\$])/`$1/g;
> > }
> > }
> > system 'powershell.exe', @ARGV;
> >
> > I do not really like necessity of this workaround. Any other ideas?
> >
> > --
> > Thanks,
> > Roman

Hi Roman;

Our recent builds have introduced a feature where we do not parse
single-quoted strings at all. You'll see this in the next drop:

C:\temp>powershell -command .\ParamTest.ps1 't`e$''st'
Input is t`e$'st

Note that the one character you DO have to treat specially is the single
quote, because it ends a single-quoted string. Two single quotes are
converted into one.

Your suggestion for the -Script parameter is a good one, and something that
is on our radar for a future release.

--
Lee Holmes [MSFT]
Windows PowerShell Development
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.



"Roman Kuzmin" <RomanKuzmin@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9A20933B-35E5-4AE6-A329-92C58834161D@microsoft.com...
> I'd like to run a PS script with parameters from a cmd batch file. These
> parameters are actually batch variables like %1, %2, %MyEnvVar% and etc.
> The
> commands:
>
> powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 '%1' '%2' '%MyEnvVar%'
> powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 "%1" "%2" "%MyEnvVar%"
> powershell.exe -command .\MyScript.ps1 "'%1'" "'%2'" "'%MyEnvVar%'"
>
> are not good at all if parameter values contains for example `, ' or $.
>
> Such a simple task becomes very tricky because of the current (I hope)
> PowerShell command line syntax.
>
> The syntax:
>
> powershell.exe ... [-Command] string [remainingArgs]
>
> is not enough for using in batch files. It is also pain not to forget to
> escape all/some special symbols manually in cmd command line. Files names
> do
> contain symbols `'$#{}()[] and etc.
>
> I would like to have alternative like
>
> powershell.exe ... -Script script.ps1 [scriptArgs]
>
> where scriptArgs are passed to script.ps1 as they are. WSH, Perl, ... can
> do
> that.
>
> Well, I solved the problem with a Perl script which escapes PS special
> symbols and recalls powershell.exe. Thus, now in command files I do
>
> Run-PS.pl - .\MyScript.ps1 "%1" "%2" "%MyEnvVar%"
>
> The idea of mentioned Perl script:
>
> # Run-PS.pl
> for(my $e = 0; $e <= $#ARGV; ++$e)
> {
> # all before '-' is unchanged
> next if $ARGV[$e] ne '-';
> # '-' is converted into '&'
> $ARGV[$e] = '"&"';
> # all after '-' is escaped
> for(++$e; $e <= $#ARGV; ++$e)
> {
> $ARGV[$e] =~ s/([ `'"@#(){}[]\$])/`$1/g;
> }
> }
> system 'powershell.exe', @ARGV;
>
> I do not really like necessity of this workaround. Any other ideas?
>
> --
> Thanks,
> Roman

Hi Lee,

> Our recent builds have introduced a feature where we do not parse
> single-quoted strings at all.

I vote for this, it makes things a bit easier, so it is good.

> Note that the one character you DO have to treat specially is the single
> quote, because it ends a single-quoted string. Two single quotes are
> converted into one.

Of course, it is inevitable. And this still makes difficulties for easy use
of PowerShell in cmd batch files for calling PS scripts with parameters.

> Your suggestion for the -Script parameter is a good one, and something that
> is on our radar for a future release.

I do think it is just necessarily for PowerShell integration into the real
world. Not only cmd batch files suffer now. There are many products that
provide external tools mechanism via command lines. Visual Studio, for
example. Suppose, I want to make a Visual Studio external tool like

PowerShell.exe … -Command …\MyScript.ps1 “’$(ItemPath)’�

The same problem is here like in batch: we can not escape something or use
double ‘’ here. If $(ItemPath) contains ‘ - it will fail.

--
Thanks,
Roman