PowerShell: string variable ignored by Get-ChildItem

Question

Below PowerShell script should measure folder sizes on remote computers but apparently my $Desktop variable value is somehow ignored by Get-ChildItem and I get 0.00 MB. But when I replace $Desktop with explicit string i.e. "C:\Users\user1\Desktop" it works alright and I get e.g. 10.MB. Am I doing something wrong?

$file1="C:\computers_users.csv"
import-csv $file1 | ForEach-Object{
  $Desktop = "C:\Users\$($_.user)\Desktop"      
  Invoke-Command -ComputerName $_.computer -ScriptBlock {
    $FldSize =(Get-ChildItem $Desktop -recurse | Measure-Object -property length -sum)
    "{0:N2}" -f ($FldSize.sum / 1MB) + " MB"}
}

CB. · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-10 07:42:53Z

2

try this:

Invoke-Command -ComputerName $_.computer -ScriptBlock {
    $FldSize =(Get-ChildItem $args[0] -recurse | Measure-Object -property length -sum)
    "{0:N2}" -f ($FldSize.sum / 1MB) + " MB"} -argumentlist $desktop

You need to pass the argument with -argumentlist because the invoke-command create a new powershell session not aware of calling session variables.

answered Jun 10, 2013 at 7:42

CB.

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1 Comment

Robo Over a year ago

Worked! Thanks for explaining that to me. Now, it's gonna resolve other dilemma as well. Much appreciated.

Shay Levy · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-10 08:04:51Z

2

On a side note, in PowerShell 3.0 you'll be can use $using to pass local variables and to the remote machine:

Invoke-Command ... -ScriptBlock { $FldSize =(Get-ChildItem $using:Desktop ...

answered Jun 10, 2013 at 8:04

Shay Levy

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