How can I run a command with pipe character in its parameters via powershell?

Question

I wish to run the command:

mocha -i -g 'database|network|skip'

With the pipe being part of the arguments to mocha. However powershell thinks 'network' is a program that I am trying to pipe to:

network : The term 'network' 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.

Some research mentioned the --% operator to stop Powershell parsing

STOP PARSING: --% The stop-parsing symbol (--%), introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0, directs Windows PowerShell to refrain from interpreting input as Windows PowerShell commands or expressions.

however running:

mocha --% -i -g 'database|network|skip'

Still gives the same error. Which makes sense, since:

The stop-parsing symbol is effective only until the next newline or pipeline character.

How can I run a command with a pipe symbol in powershell?

Edit: Image attached for person who refuses to believe me even after issue has been replicated, and answered by two people:

Your example is not complete. It depends from mocha command, which can (and likely) be the sourse of error. — user4003407
– user4003407, Commented Aug 30, 2016 at 13:56
That is a cmd error and not a PowerShell one though. I was able to test the with find... hmmmm. Perhaps we need to reverse the quotes? mocha -i -g '"database|network|skip"' — Matt
– Matt, Commented Aug 30, 2016 at 14:33

Matt · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-30 14:58:10Z

4

Using an example with find you will get similar results.

find /c "this|that|andtheotherthing" C:\temp\EventCombMT.txt

find : FIND: Parameter format not correct
At line:1 char:1
+ find /c "this|that|andtheotherthing" C:\temp\EventCombMT.txt
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (FIND: Parameter format not correct:String) [], RemoteException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError

Pretty sure this is because the quotes are consumed by the PowerShell interpreter and that leave your mocha command with an unquoted string. Doubling up the quotes is another was to prevent this.

find /c '"this|that|andtheotherthing"' C:\temp\EventCombMT.txt

It seems this is not the case with mocha? In comments it was determined that we need to reverse the quote set from that seen in the find examples.

There are better ways to call external commands as you have seen in your linked post. Like using the call operator and a hashtable. You would still have to address the quotes though. You could escape a set of double quotes as well to get a similar effect.

find /c "`"this|that|andtheotherthing`"" C:\temp\EventCombMT.txt

For this to be correct though it does not really match the error you are getting. While I am correct about a solution I might be wrong about my interpretation of the issue. PowerShell should not care about the pipe character regardless of how it is quoted. That is what the quotes are for.

edited Aug 30, 2016 at 14:58

answered Aug 30, 2016 at 14:34

Matt

47k9 gold badges90 silver badges125 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

1 Comment

Matt Over a year ago

No.. your right... I mixed up my errors with yours.

mikemaccana · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-30 14:48:09Z

3

Thanks to PowerShell and external commands done right. You can quote the pipe character to stop powershell treating it as a pipe. In this case:

mocha -g 'network"|"database"|"skip'

Works perfectly. As @matt has since mentioned, you can also run the (much neater):

mocha -i -g '"database|network|skip"'

edited Aug 30, 2016 at 14:48

answered Aug 30, 2016 at 14:14

mikemaccana

126k113 gold badges441 silver badges544 bronze badges

2 Comments

Nkosi Over a year ago

I'm curious, would the same work the other way around "network'|'database'|'skip"

mikemaccana Over a year ago

@Nkosi that would fail (and does fail in testing) since double quotes are not as strict as single quotes. See stackoverflow.com/questions/5967407/…

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How can I run a command with pipe character in its parameters via powershell?

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

2 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related