How do I build a list of parameters for an executable in Powershell?

Question

I have a snippet of Powershell where I need to call an external executable, with a list of switches.

& $pathToExe 
        --project $project `
        --server $server `
        --apiKey $key `

Now I need to do something like "if $someVariable -eq $True then also add --optionalSwitch $someValue".

How can I do this without a load of repetition? For reference the real exe call is much bigger than this, and the list of optional switches is larger!

Will the exe accept arguments in the form --project:$project --server:$server (: rather than spaces between switches and arguments) - if so, it's trivial with splatting — Mathias R. Jessen
– Mathias R. Jessen, Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 10:13
It accepts '=' for some arguments, but there are others which don't have any associated value like --debug. Would your suggestion still work for those? — NeilD
– NeilD, Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 10:19

vonPryz · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-11 10:18:49Z

3

How about a hashtable that contains parameters and their values? Like so,

$ht = @{}
$ht.Add('project', 'myProject') 
$ht.Add('apikey', $null) 
$ht.Add('server', 'myServer')

To build the parameter string, filter the collection by excluding keys without values:

$pop = $ht.getenumerator() | ? { $_.value -ne $null }

Build the command string by iterating the filtered collection

$cmdLine = "myExe"
$pop | % { $cmdLine += " --" + $_.name + " " + $_.value }
# Check the result
$cmdLine
myExe --server myServer --project myProject

answered Jul 11, 2017 at 10:18

vonPryz

24.3k10 gold badges58 silver badges69 bronze badges

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

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How do I build a list of parameters for an executable in Powershell?

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related