CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowspowershellcmdunzip
jperry
jperry

Reputation: 11

Problems Executing Powershell from .cmd file

I am attempting to run a build task from a .cmd file where Powershell extracts a zip file, which helps bypass a problem with Visual Studio's limit on the number of directory characters. However, I am having problems getting the Powershell command to execute correctly. I've tried a number of variations with the quotations, and I either get a termination error, or the Powershell command outputs as a string with the zip file not extracted. Below is an example of my current .cmd file:

//%1% is a passed in command line argument for the absolute path, e.g. C:\path\to\dir
set Source=%1%directory.zip
set Destination=%1%directory
powershell -Command $pscmd = '{Add-Type -assembly "system.io.compression.filesystem";[io.compression.zipfile]::ExtractToDirectory("%Source%", "%Destination%");}'; Write-Host $pscmd;

I'm very open to a number of variations that can get this to work, provided that this task runs on the command line, uses Powershell, and can be executed from a .cmd file, which is triggered by our app's build process. I'll be happy to provide additional information if needed. Thanks!

Upvotes: 0

Views: 116

Answers (1)

Kory Gill
Kory Gill

Reputation: 7161

This was a strange one. Your code above has some sort of hidden character in it. I took the code and opened it in notepad, saved as ANSI, and when you type it to command line or open it again in a new instance of notepad you can see the error.

Neither add-type nor ExtractToDirectory give output, so I removed your pscmd var.

I would open your existing script, save as ansi as a new file name, delete the original, rename the new one back to the original name.

Here is what I came up with to troubleshoot your script, and it works on my machine.

I named my script L:\util\unzip.cmd

setlocal
//%1% is a passed in command line argument for the absolute path, e.g. C:\path\to\dir
set _Source='%1\directory.zip'
set _Destination='%1\directory'
echo _Source=%_Source%
echo _Destination=%_Destination%
set _c1=Add-Type -assembly system.io.compression.filesystem;
set _c2=[io.compression.zipfile]::ExtractToDirectory(%_Source%, %_Destination%)
echo _c1=%_c1%
echo _c2=%_c2%
set _Command=^& {%_c1% %_c2%};
: to echo, use double quotes or cmd thinks text after & is another command
echo _Command="%_Command%"
pause

powershell -Command "%_Command%"

endlocal

I ran it like this, and it worked: unzip.cmd L:\util

I'll bet this this info, you are good to go.

Upvotes: 0

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