Passing a variable to a powershell script via command line
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"