Vista - Running a command from inside a script, command line is corrupted

Hello,

I am trying to give Powershell a chance, since it seems like it may have
some promise.

I have this powershell script that needs to run an executable occasionally,
using logic from the script. The executable has a command line that is
sensitive to spacing so it has to be just right. In particular, my script
needs to run the wlogevent.exe like this:

c:\temp\wlogevent.exe -c:41 -l:3 -ss:"String status message here."

In cmd.exe, wlogevent works when called as above. But if you try to run
wlogevent with spaces after the colons it it's command line like this

c:\temp\wlogevent.exe -c: 41 -l: 3 -ss: "IIS7 is in place."

it will not work.

So in my script I create a string command like this:

$command = "c:\temp\wlogevent.exe -c:41 -l" + [char]58 + $Args[1] + " -ss" +
[char]58 + [char]34 + $Args[0] + [char]34
Where $Args[0] and Args[1] are string parameters of a function. I'm using
[char]58 for the ":" character because I sense there's domething weird about
colons in powershell.

Anyway, when I write-host $command, it looks correct in the console output;
spacing is correct throughout.

But when I invoke-expression $command, spaces somehow insinuate themselves
after the colons in the command line, and it doesn't work. I know this by
viewing the command line of the spawned process, and that command line is

c:\temp\wlogevent.exe -c: 41 -l: 3 -ss: "IIS7 is in place."

There is a space after every colon except the one in the path. What is
going on here?

Thanks,

RFV

try it like this:

param (
$arg1,
$arg2
)

$command = "c:\temp\wlogevent.exe -c:41 -l:$arg1 -ss:`"$arg2`""

write-host $command


B.t.w.: "I am trying to give Powershell a chance, since it seems like
it may have
some promise." L0L

Thank you for responding. I implemented your suggestion so that my function
looks like this:

Function InformMe {

param (

$arg1,

$arg2

)

$command = "c:\temp\wlogevent.exe -c:41 -l:$arg2 -ss:`"$arg1`""

write-host $command

invoke-expression $command

}

This works in exactly the same way as my other code; the write-host output
looks good, but wlogevent.exe breaks because there are spaces in the command
line after the colons.

In particular, the write host output in my case looks like this:

c:\temp\wlogevent.exe -c:41 -l:3 -ss:"IIS7 is in place."

which is perfect. But the spawned process has command line

"C:\temp\wlogevent.exe" -c: 41 -l: 3 -ss: "IIS7 is in place."

(as captured using sysinternals process explorer)

What is it about colons in powershell?

RFV






"DennisD" <dennis.damen@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:c502bce8-404b-47ff-9c3f-06cb4f643dbd@xxxxxx

I don't think it has anything to do with the colons. Could you try the
following:

param (
$arg1,
$arg2
)

$command = "echo -c:41 -l:$($arg1.trim()) -ss:`"$($arg2.Trim())`""

One of the args I am passing is a "3", so can't do .trim() since the "3" has
been secretly cast as a [System.Int32].

Using your suggestion, we get error output like this:

Method invocation failed because [System.Int32] doesn't contain a method
named
'trim'.

Thanks for the suggestion all the same. Tried like this next:

$command = "c:\temp\wlogevent.exe -c:41 -l:$($arg2) -ss:`"$($arg1.Trim())`""

This results in the same behavior as before. When we write-host the string
it looks fine, but when powershell shells this command string, it changes
the comand string so that where-ever there was "-x:", there's a "-x: ".



"DennisD" <dennis.damen@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4349673c-731c-49ac-9392-07c2778d5671@xxxxxx