Reusing powershell cmdlet parameters

Question

I was wondering if it was possible to call a parameter twice within a cmdlet, such as:

cmdlet-test -myCommand input1, input2 -myCommand input3, input 4

myCommand being the same command twice. Is that possible or will a user just have to write it all in one comma separated list?

Why is specifying the parameter more than once is preferable over using a single comma-delimited list or other collection? From the phrase "will a user just have to write it all in one comma separated list", I take it that this is not a desirable method of running the cmdlet for you. — alroc
– alroc, Commented May 30, 2014 at 15:12
it's just the way that was foreseen to get the job done, but if it isn't possible then it'll have to be done with a comma separated list. I was just curious if there was another way to do it. — hoffmabo
– hoffmabo, Commented May 30, 2014 at 15:25
The idea of reusing a parameter in the way you describe is foreign to every programming language I'm familiar with. — alroc
– alroc, Commented May 30, 2014 at 16:40

alroc · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-30 15:10:51Z

If the user attempts to use the same parameter twice, they will receive an error.

get-process | select -first 2

Handles  NPM(K)    PM(K)      WS(K) VM(M)   CPU(s)     Id ProcessName
-------  ------    -----      ----- -----   ------     -- -----------
    201      16     3324       3456   109     0.17   9972 acrotray
    409      16     3904       4948   101     0.97  10520 AdobeARM

Let's try it the conventional way:

get-process -pid 9972,10520

Handles  NPM(K)    PM(K)      WS(K) VM(M)   CPU(s)     Id ProcessName
-------  ------    -----      ----- -----   ------     -- -----------
    201      16     3324       3456   109     0.17   9972 acrotray
    409      16     3904       4948   101     0.97  10520 AdobeARM

And your proposed method:

get-process -pid 9972 -pid 10520
Get-Process : Cannot bind parameter because parameter 'Id' is specified more than once. To provide multiple values to
parameters that can accept multiple values, use the array syntax. For example, "-parameter value1,value2,value3".
At line:1 char:23
+ get-process -pid 9972 -pid 10520
+                       ~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-Process], ParameterBindingException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterAlreadyBound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetProcessCommand

serghei · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-13 21:14:12Z

For those who would like to separate a really long function argument into several lines, I suggest this approach:

# Just an example function
function PrintFileName {
  param (
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)] [System.String[]] $Files = @()
  )

  foreach ($File in $Files) {
     Write-Host "${File}"
  }
}

Then, the function call like this:

PrintFileName -Files C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile.txt1,C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile2.txt,`
C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile2.txt,C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile3.txt,`
C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile4.txt,C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile5.txt

Will output:

C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile1.txt
C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile2.txt
C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile2.txt
C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile3.txt
C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile4.txt
C:\SomeDirectory\SomeFile5.txt

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