How to pass arguments in command line using dotnet?

Question

the command dotnet myapp.dll -- [4, 3, 2] throws the exception System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format. I do not know the syntax. How should I pass arguments correctly? I use powershell.

To shortly explain Sean's comment: arguments are separated by spaces, so [4, 3, 2] are three separate arguments: [4,, 3, and 2]. The quotes override this behavior by saying: everything between both quotes is one argument. — ckuri
– ckuri, Commented May 13, 2019 at 8:45
Unfortunately, it does not work. Arguents does not passed. The programm writes: System.String[] — Сергей
– Сергей, Commented May 13, 2019 at 8:58
what writes "System.String[]" what are you actually telling it to display — BugFinder
– BugFinder, Commented May 13, 2019 at 8:59
That is the correct output. If args is an array of strings, it doesn’t overload ToString() so the output will be the type name. — Sami Kuhmonen
– Sami Kuhmonen, Commented May 13, 2019 at 9:03

Wai Ha Lee · Accepted Answer · 2022-04-27 11:12:17Z

15

using System;

namespace ConsoleApp3
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(string.Join('-', args));
        }
    }
}

Call it via Powershell 6:

dotnet .\ConsoleApp3.dll "[1,2,3]"

Output:

[1,2,3]

In the above call, your Main method will receive [1,2,3] as a single string and you have to parse/split it in your code.

If you want an array reflected in the string[] array of Main you can use a PowerShell array:

dotnet .\ConsoleApp3.dll @(1,2,3)

Output:

1-2-3

Here the PowerShell array @(1,2,3) is casted to a string[]-array. Therefore each item of the PowerShell array is injected to the string[] array.

Behavior is the same on PowerShell 5.1.

edited Apr 27, 2022 at 11:12

Wai Ha Lee

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answered May 13, 2019 at 9:10

Moerwald

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2 Comments

Сергей Over a year ago

It helps! dotnet .\myapp.dll @(4).

Mariano Desanze Over a year ago

1 2 3 instead of @(1,2,3) makes the call simpler. More details in my answer.

Mariano Desanze · Accepted Answer · 2023-08-24 13:46:07Z

Moerwald's answer explains well how to pass array arguments in PowerShell, but:

The regular arguments of a C# program (string[] args) don't need to be sent as an array. Several parameters can be sent, just using spaces. As command line interpreters (PowerShell/CMD/BASH) just consider each of those different parameters, and will send all parameters to the dotnet command, and the dotnet command will send all those parameters to the program.

Instead of:
```
> dotnet .\ConsoleApp3.dll @(1,2,3)
1-2-3
```
You can send each argument separated by spaces:
```
> dotnet .\ConsoleApp3.dll 1 2 3
1-2-3
```
You don't need to do compile the program into a DLL in order to run with dotnet.

Instead of first compiling the SLN/CSPROJ and then running it:
```
> dotnet build
> cd bin\Debug\netcoreapp3.1
> dotnet .\ConsoleApp3.dll 1 2 3
1-2-3
```
You can run directly from the SLN/CSPROJ folder via the "run" command:
```
> dotnet run 1 2 3
1-2-3
```

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