Why I am getting PowerShell Parsing Error?

Question

I am new to PowerShell and I am trying to get a script to work to list my parallel ports. I took the PowerShell script from here:

On Error Resume Next

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")

Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_ParallelPort")

For Each objItem in colItems
    Wscript.Echo "Availability: " & objItem.Availability
    For Each strCapability in objItem.Capabilities
        Wscript.Echo "Capability: " & strCapability
    Next
    Wscript.Echo "Description: " & objItem.Description
    Wscript.Echo "Device ID: " & objItem.DeviceID
    Wscript.Echo "Name: " & objItem.Name
    Wscript.Echo "OS Auto Discovered: " & objItem.OSAutoDiscovered
    Wscript.Echo "PNP Device ID: " & objItem.PNPDeviceID
    Wscript.Echo "Protocol Supported: " & objItem.ProtocolSupported
Next

After executing the script I am getting:

PS C:\> .\script.ps1
Unexpected token '_' in expression or statement.
At C:\script.ps1:4 char:44
+ Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _ <<<<
    + CategoryInfo          : ParserError: (_:String) [], ParseException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken

I even tried changing & by $ as I can see in this script which also doesn't work. Is a problem with my PowerShell or is the script which is causing the problem?

PS: I am using PowerShell v2.0 in Windows XP 32bit

Thank you in advance!

EDIT:

According to the answer so it isn't a PowerShell script but a vbscript. So my question now would be why this script doesn't work if it is indeed a PowerShell Script:

$strComputer = "." 

$colItems = get-wmiobject -class "Win32_ParallelPort" -namespace "root\CIMV2" ` 
-computername $strComputer 

foreach ($objItem in $colItems) { 
      write-host "Availability: " $objItem.Availability 
      write-host "Capabilities: " $objItem.Capabilities 
      write-host "Capability Descriptions: " $objItem.CapabilityDescriptions 
      write-host "Caption: " $objItem.Caption 
      write-host "Configuration Manager Error Code: " $objItem.ConfigManagerErrorCode 
      write-host "Configuration Manager User Configuration: " $objItem.ConfigManagerUserConfig 
      write-host "Creation Class Name: " $objItem.CreationClassName 
      write-host "Description: " $objItem.Description 
      write-host "Device ID: " $objItem.DeviceID 
      write-host "DMA Support: " $objItem.DMASupport 
      write-host "Error Cleared: " $objItem.ErrorCleared 
      write-host "Error Description: " $objItem.ErrorDescription 
      write-host "Installation Date: " $objItem.InstallDate 
      write-host "Last Error Code: " $objItem.LastErrorCode 
      write-host "Maximum Number Controlled: " $objItem.MaxNumberControlled 
      write-host "Name: " $objItem.Name 
      write-host "Operating System Auto-Discovered: " $objItem.OSAutoDiscovered 
      write-host "PNP DeviceID: " $objItem.PNPDeviceID 
      write-host "Powe rManagement Capabilities: " $objItem.PowerManagementCapabilities 
      write-host "Power Management Supported: " $objItem.PowerManagementSupported 
      write-host "ProtocolS upported: " $objItem.ProtocolSupported 
      write-host "Status: " $objItem.Status 
      write-host "Status Information: " $objItem.StatusInfo 
      write-host "System Creation Class Name: " $objItem.SystemCreationClassName 
      write-host "System Name: " $objItem.SystemName 
      write-host "Time Of Last Reset: " $objItem.TimeOfLastReset 
      write-host 
}

I am getting this error:

Missing expression after unary operator '-'.
At C:\script.ps1:4 char:2
+ - <<<< computername $strComputer
    + CategoryInfo          : ParserError: (-:String) [], ParseException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MissingExpressionAfterOperator

alroc · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-25 21:16:28Z

1

In your revised script, there's a space after the backtick on line 3, so the continuation isn't being recognized. When you use the backtick to for a line continuation in PowerShell, it can't be followed by a whitespace character. Eliminate that space, or make it all one line:

$colItems = get-wmiobject -class "Win32_ParallelPort" -namespace "root\CIMV2" -computername $strComputer

answered Sep 25, 2013 at 21:16

alroc

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Comments

Jason Shirk · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-25 20:37:12Z

0

Your example script is not PowerShell, it's vbscript.

PowerShell is much simpler, you would use something like:

Get-WmiObject Win32_ParallelPort

answered Sep 25, 2013 at 20:37

Jason Shirk

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2 Comments

Andres Over a year ago

Interesting. This is a PowerShell script: gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/… and also I am getting errors, do you know why?

Jason Shirk Over a year ago

As alroc pointed out, the backtick was followed by a space. For some reason IE adds this space when you select the text even if the text has no space. I recommend using the "Copy Code" button when copying text from MSDN - you'll avoid issues like this in the future.

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