Error when attempting to parameterize a command with $ variables

Question

I'm trying to execute a command using the following code snippet:

foreach($package in (Get-Childitem *.dtsx | select-object -expand Name))
{
    DTUTIL /COPY SQL;"\$package" /DESTSERVER "$global:SSISServer" /FILE "$package" /Q
}

However doing so results in the following error message:

You must provide a value expression on the right-hand side of the '/' operator.
At C:\Projects\RiskOptix\Code\Deployment\BuildAll.ps1:267 char:39
+         DTUTIL /COPY SQL;"\$package" / <<<< DESTSERVER "$global:SSISServer" /FILE "$package" /Q
+ CategoryInfo          : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : ExpectedValueExpression

I also tried

& DTUTIL "/COPY SQL;'\" + [System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($package) + "' /DESTSERVER '$global:SSISServer' /FILE $package"

But now this gives me

Microsoft (R) SQL Server SSIS Package Utilities
Version 10.50.1600.1 for 32-bit
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 2010. All rights reserved.

At least one of the DTS, SQL, or File options must be specified.

But at least the command ran but it seems like it didn't receive any of the parameters I sent it ...I'm guessing there's a fundamental concept of PowerShell I'm overlooking or failed to grasp here. Where have I gone wrong?

Aaron Jensen · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-09 23:09:35Z

1

When passing variables as arguments to a command, you don't need to quote them. That being said, it looks like you have a rogue semi-colon in your command. Semi-colons are optional in PowerShell, but when present, is used as the command separator. In this case, you'll need to quote the argument that has a semi-colon, or create a variable for that argument:

Get-Childitem *.dtsx | 
    Select-Object -expand Name |
    ForEach-Object { DTUTIL /COPY "SQL;\$package" /DESTSERVER $global:SSISServer /FILE $package /Q

I've never used diutil, so don't know the commands arguments or syntax.

answered Jun 9, 2012 at 23:09

Aaron Jensen

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1 Comment

blue18hutthutt Over a year ago

This worked - I guess my problem was not understanding how parameters are passed to a command from PowerShell Thanks, this was driving me crazy

Tomas Panik · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-08 20:12:43Z

1

try Invoke-Expression like:

Invoke-Expression "DTUTIL /COPY SQL;`"\$package`" /DESTSERVER `"$global:SSISServer`" /FILE `"$package`" /Q"

the whole string is evaluated first and result is then passed to powershell like normal command

answered Jun 8, 2012 at 20:12

Tomas Panik

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3 Comments

blue18hutthutt Over a year ago

It's still giving me the error Invoke-Expression : You must provide a value expression on the right-hand side of the '/' operator.

Tomas Panik Over a year ago

try: echo "DTUTIL /COPY SQL;"\$package" /DESTSERVER "$global:SSISServer" /FILE "$package" /Q" and design the output to the way you would run in win batch

blue18hutthutt Over a year ago

Actually that gave me the idea - I used echo "/COPY SQL;""\$package"" /DESTSERVER ""$global:SSISServer"" /FILE $package /Q" | DTUTIL ..and surprisingly it worked. What is the difference between using it like this way, vs &, vs Invoke-Method, vs multiple strings for each parameter eg DTUTIL "/COPY SQL; '\$Package'" "/DESTSERVRER '$Server'" "/FILE $package" "/Q"

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