CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershellparameterscommand
Sam
Sam

Reputation: 11

Power Shell: A command as a variable with parameter

I have a simple question. I would like to assign a command to a variable and execute it with extra parameters, like:

C:\test.exe /q /v

But when I do:

$path=C:\test.exe
$path /q /v

It doesn't work.. Any idea?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 88

Answers (2)

Keith Hill
Keith Hill

Reputation: 201662

The most canonical way to do this is to use the call operator on the variable that contains the "name" of the command e.g.:

& $path /q /v

This is actually required when the path to the command (ie native exe) contains spaces.

Upvotes: 3

Davor Josipovic
Davor Josipovic

Reputation: 5504

Command as string:

With Invoke-Expression cmdlet you execute an arbitrary string as a piece of code. It takes the string, compiles it, and executes it.

So you do:

$path='C:\test.exe';
Invoke-Expression "$path /q /v";

As a side note: When you do $path=C:\test.exe without the quotes, you are actually assigning the STDOUT of test.exe to the variable $path. You have to make clear to PowerShell that it is actually a string you wish to execute later.

Command as script object:

If you are concerned with performance, you could also try converting your command to a compiled scriptblock, and execute it with the & call operator.

$path='C:\test.exe';
$cmd = [scriptblock]::Create("$path /q /v");
& $cmd;

Upvotes: 2

Related Questions