CODEWITHSUNDEEP
powershell
jaffa
jaffa

Reputation: 27360

Spaces cause split in path with PowerShell

I'm having an issue with powershell when invoking an exe at a path containing spaces.

PS C:\Windows Services> invoke-expression "C:\Windows Services\MyService.exe"

The term 'C:\Windows' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

It seems to be splitting on the space between 'Windows' and 'Services'. Any idea how to get around this problem?

Upvotes: 137

Views: 310157

Answers (18)

David
David

Reputation: 65

So, my issue was similar. I wanted to play a Windows sound using Powershell, but the space in the "C:\Windows\Media\Windows Ding.wav" file created the exact same issue.

A lot of the answers talked about adding double quotes or invoke-expression or using different operators or creating a MySql dump, etc etc. But none of it worked for me. I messed around a little and this was my solution:

powershell -c (New-Object Media.SoundPlayer "'C:\Windows\Media\Windows Ding.wav'").PlaySync();

Double quotes on the outside, and single quotes on the inside.

I hope that many years in the future this helps someone who is still struggling despite the many similar answers already posted.

Upvotes: 0

AndystUK
AndystUK

Reputation: 1

my fix-around the block of spaces especially folder naming was to go back to folder and change the 'space' with a dot. ie. Maine Cabin Masters to Maine.Cabin.Masters This works with conventional code either PS or Terminal mode.

Upvotes: 0

iRon
iRon

Reputation: 23830

Due to several PowerShell quoting rules that are used for passing arguments to native commands which also have specific experimental Features in PowerShell, quoting might get very confusing. Therefore the solution in some cases might be simply to don't go down the rabbit hole:

Avoid quoting file paths with spaces by using the 8.3 filenames

$FSO = New-Object -ComObject Scripting.FileSystemObject
$FSO.getfile('C:\Windows Services\MyService.exe').ShortPath
C:\WINDOW~1\MYSERV~1.EXE

Upvotes: 0

MvH
MvH

Reputation: 109

What worked for me (I needed the path to create a MySQL dump), was to place the directory in between 6 double quotes like so:

$path = """C:\Path\To\File"""

Upvotes: 10

techloris_109
techloris_109

Reputation: 665

  1. enter the root C drive by entering command

C:

  1. type cd and then press Tab key, it will toggle through all available locations and press enter when you have reached the desired one

cd {press tab}

Upvotes: -2

Shoaib Khalil
Shoaib Khalil

Reputation: 2420

Simply put the path in double quotes in front of cd, Like this:

cd "C:\Users\MyComputer\Documents\Visual Studio 2019\Projects"

Upvotes: -2

Adil Hindistan
Adil Hindistan

Reputation: 6615

Would this do what you want?:

& "C:\Windows Services\MyService.exe"

Use &, the call operator, to invoke commands whose names or paths are stored in quoted strings and/or are referenced via variables, as in the accepted answer. Invoke-Expression is not only the wrong tool to use in this particular case, it should generally be avoided.

Upvotes: 198

djsp
djsp

Reputation: 19

Try this, simple and without much change:

invoke-expression "'C:\Windows Services\MyService.exe'"

using single quotations at the beginning and end of the path.

Upvotes: 1

GSKKC
GSKKC

Reputation: 65

Just put ${yourpathtofile/folder}

PowerShell does not count spaces; to tell PowerShell to consider the whole path including spaces, add your path in between ${ & }.

Upvotes: -1

jkdba
jkdba

Reputation: 2519

Can use the . dot operator.

. "C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin\code.cmd"

or the Start-Process command

Start-Process -PSPath "C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin\code.cmd"

or using ProcessStartInfo and Process

$ProcessInfo = New-Object -TypeName System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo
$ProcessInfo.FileName = 'C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe'
if($Admin){ $ProcessInfo.Verb = 'runas' }
$ProcessInfo.UseShellExecute = $false

$CommandParameters = '-noexit -noprofile -command Set-Location -LiteralPath c:\; $host.ui.RawUI.WindowTitle = ''[{0}] PS''; Set-PSReadlineOption -HistorySaveStyle SaveNothing;' -f $Cred.UserName
$ProcessInfo.Arguments = $CommandParameters
$ProcessInfo.Domain = ($Cred.UserName -split '\\')[0]
$ProcessInfo.UserName = ($Cred.UserName -split '\\')[1]
$ProcessInfo.Password = $Cred.Password

$ProcessObject = New-Object -TypeName System.Diagnostics.Process
$ProcessObject.StartInfo = $ProcessInfo
$ProcessObject.Start() | Out-Null

Upvotes: 7

J. Fischlein
J. Fischlein

Reputation: 101

This worked for me:

$scanresults = Invoke-Expression "& 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Nmap\nmap.exe' -vv -sn 192.168.1.1-150 --open"

Upvotes: 9

pramod
pramod

Reputation: 21

Please use this simple one liner:

Invoke-Expression "C:\'Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16'\EXCEL.EXE"

Upvotes: 2

CathyQian
CathyQian

Reputation: 1159

For any file path with space, simply put them in double quotations will work in Windows Powershell. For example, if you want to go to Program Files directory, instead of use

PS C:\> cd Program Files

which will induce error, simply use the following will solve the problem:

PS C:\> cd "Program Files"

Upvotes: 11

seinecle
seinecle

Reputation: 10798

Using Powershell on Windows10 in 2018, what worked for me was simply to replace double quotes " by simple quotes '. Adding the backtick before the space, as suggested in an answer, broke the path.

Upvotes: 7

Jacek Plesnar
Jacek Plesnar

Reputation: 505

Not sure if someone still needs it... I needed to invoke msbuild in powershell and following worked fine:

$MSBuild = "${Env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\MSBuild.exe"

& $MSBuild $PathToSolution /p:OutDir=$OutDirVar /t:Rebuild /p:Configuration=Release

Upvotes: 15

Alan
Alan

Reputation: 179

"&'C:\Windows Services\MyService.exe'" | Invoke-Expression

via https://www.vistax64.com/powershell/52905-invoke-expression-exe-has-spaces-its-path.html

Upvotes: 13

c-chavez
c-chavez

Reputation: 7506

There's a hack I've used since the Invoke-Expression works fine for me.

You could set the current location to the path with spaces, invoke the expression, get back to your previous location and continue:

$currLocation = Get-Location
Set-Location = "C:\Windows Services\"
Invoke-Expression ".\MyService.exe"
Set-Location $currLocation

This will only work if the exe doesn't have any spaces in its name.

Hope this helps

Upvotes: 3

Anthony Neace
Anthony Neace

Reputation: 26031

You can escape the space by using single quotations and a backtick before the space:

$path = 'C:\Windows Services\MyService.exe'
$path -replace ' ', '` '
invoke-expression $path

Upvotes: 39

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