How to prevent formatting of parameters to a command in PowerShell?

Question

I want to call a batch file with powershell, like this:

$databaseUrl = "jdbc:sqlserver://$($databaseConfig.Server):$($databaseConfig.Port);databaseName=$($databaseConfig.Name)"

./database/liquibase/liquibase.bat --url=$databaseUrl

My problem is that the = is replaced with a whitespace, leaving only --url as the first parameter. I try putting it in quotes:

.\database\liquibase\liquibase.bat "--url=$databaseUrl"

...with the same result. I read that I can use backtick to escape characters:

.\database\liquibase\liquibase.bat "--url`=$databaseUrl"

...but the equals sign still disappears. I have also tried using --% to prevent any formatting from happening:

.\database\liquibase\liquibase.bat --% "--url=$databaseUrl"

but then the variable $databaseUrl is interpreted verbatim.

Any help on how to pass the argument, unformatted, but with variables expanded would be greatly appreciated.

Your best option would be to allow the --url:<value> syntax as well, if you have the batch file under your control. There are a couple of questions, and comments, like this one that explain the details of the issue. — Christian.K
– Christian.K, Commented Sep 22, 2015 at 13:50
It's too long for a comment, but this is the important part: java -cp "%CP%" %JAVA_OPTS% liquibase.integration.commandline.Main %CMD_LINE_ARGS%. When I start the java command from the powershell script, the formatting of the parameters seem to work. I think that is my best bet. — bjornakr
– bjornakr, Commented Sep 22, 2015 at 15:01

Loïc MICHEL · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-22 14:43:28Z

0

maybe tricky, but as the escape operator --% allow environmnent variable expansion you could try this :

$env:databaseUrl ="jdbc:sqlserver://$($databaseConfig.Server):$($databaseConfig.Port)"
$env:db="$($databaseConfig.Name)"
.\database\liquibase\liquibase.bat --% "--url=%databaseUrl%;databasename=%db%"

edited Sep 22, 2015 at 14:43

answered Sep 22, 2015 at 13:58

Loïc MICHEL

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3 Comments

bjornakr Over a year ago

I have been testing with environment variables, but they are still causing problems. Running your example, the batch file gets this input: --url jdbc:sqlserver://TEST:1433 databaseName SomeDbName

Loïc MICHEL Over a year ago

tweak a bit more.... $env:url="jdbc:sqlserver://server:8080" ; $env:db="someDBName" ; \liquibase.bat --% "--url=%url%;databasename=%db%"

bjornakr Over a year ago

Now the imput parameter looks like this "--url=jdbc:sqlserver://server:8080;databasename=someDBName". That seems fine, but when the parameter is used to start a java program, it doesn't work. Probably because it is all in a string. Like I commented above, if I start the java process directly from powershell, the parameters are fine. I think I'll go for that.

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