Calling Powershell from bat file - ignore special characters in params

Question

I have a bat file and I need to use it to call a powershell script.

I need to pass this powershell script a jdbc connect string which has lots of brackets and @'s. I have made a simple example which demos my problem.

my test.bat is as follows:

@PowerShell.exe -Command "C:\off_desk\ci\test\test.ps1 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9"

I use this with test.ps1 which is as follows:

Param(
  [string]$one
)

Write-Host "Got $one"

When I run:

test jdbc:oracle:thin:@(DESCRIPTION=(enable=broken)(ADDRESS_LIST=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=cc-rjmetcal)(PORT=1521)))(CONNECT_DATA=(service_name=CITESTDB_001))))

I get an error:

Missing closing ')' in expression.
    + CategoryInfo          : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MissingEndParenthesisInExpression

I have tried running with quotes:

test "jdbc:oracle:thin:@(DESCRIPTION=(enable=broken)(ADDRESS_LIST=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=cc-rjmetcal)(PORT=1521)))(CONNECT_DATA=(service_name=CITESTDB_001))))"

but this also errors.

I have tried many things I have found on the internet. Surrounding it with @and @" and various other things. None worked. I am limited by what a bat can do so I can't search the string for all the escape chars and prefix them with.

Does anyone have a solution?

I keep counting and counting, but it seems your statement has 9 opening and 10 closing brackets... Does not explain the message you get with a missing closing bracket though... — geisterfurz007
– geisterfurz007, Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 11:32
The content shouldn't matter. I just want powershell to leave the string alone — Robert3452
– Robert3452, Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 11:36
Oops right! During testing powershell complained about a bracket too much nevertheless ;) — geisterfurz007
– geisterfurz007, Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 12:11
Any particular reason why you constrain yourself to at most nine arguments? Wouldn't %* be simpler? — Joey
– Joey, Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 12:11

G42 · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-19 12:12:21Z

1

Change your test.bat to have single quotes around the arguments passed to PowerShell. Run with double quotes as you did before (specifies one argument, no need for %2 %3 etc)

@PowerShell.exe -Command "C:\off_desk\ci\test\test.ps1 '%1'"

answered Sep 19, 2016 at 12:12

G42

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Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 10:27:24Z

1

After testing and searching I found that neither the @ nor the brackets are causing problems, but the equal signs.

In this post is a workaround for that:

Passing your connection string enclosed in first single-quotes and the double-quotes like this:

'"connectionstring goes here"'

Working with your way (commandline-> batch-file -> powershell) this seems to be working correctly.

edited May 23, 2017 at 10:27

CommunityBot

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answered Sep 19, 2016 at 12:10

geisterfurz007

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3 Comments

Robert3452 Over a year ago

Hi, I re-ran the test with test a=b and the output was just a. I ran it again with test "a=b" and the output was got a=b. I don't think it's the equals signs as none of those tests errored as I described

Robert3452 Over a year ago

The solution you proposed does work. (I tried lots of combinations including "'xxx'" but not the otherway around

geisterfurz007 Over a year ago

After I tried your example from your question above no equal sign showed up when the error message came up and the problem laid after the last one: after that the connection string just ended. Try it yourself with the string you used above :)

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