Call PowerShell script with arguments from another powershell script

Question

How do you call a PowerShell script which takes named arguments from within a PowerShell script?

foo.ps1:

param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][String]$a='',
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][ValidateSet(0,1)][int]$b, 
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false)][String]$c=''
)
#stuff done with params here

bar.ps1

#some processing
$ScriptPath = Split-Path $MyInvocation.InvocationName
$args = "-a 'arg1' -b 2"
$cmd = "$ScriptPath\foo.ps1"

Invoke-Expression $cmd $args

Error:

Invoke-Expression : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts 
argument '-a MSFT_VirtualDisk (ObjectId = 
"{1}\\YELLOWSERVER8\root/Microsoft/Windo...).FriendlyName -b 2'

This is my latest attempt - I've tried multiple methods from googling none seem to work.

If I run foo.ps1 from the shell terminal as ./foo.ps1 -a 'arg1' -b 2 it works as expected.

While you did find an answer to this specific issue, best practices would suggest functions rather "loose code" in a file, and even better, modules (.psm1 files). And try to avoid Invoke-Expression (see Invoke-Expression Considered Harmful ). — Michael Sorens
– Michael Sorens, Commented Aug 15, 2014 at 15:20

Chris L · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-14 10:42:22Z

25

After posting the question I stumbled upon the answer. For completeness here it is:

bar.ps1:

#some processing
$ScriptPath = Split-Path $MyInvocation.InvocationName
$args = @()
$args += ("-a", "arg1")
$args += ("-b", 2)
$cmd = "$ScriptPath\foo.ps1"

Invoke-Expression "$cmd $args"

edited Apr 14, 2016 at 10:42

answered Aug 15, 2014 at 8:15

Chris L

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6 Comments

honzakuzel1989 Over a year ago

You have syntactic error in your answer - on this line $args += ("-b" 2) missing comma between "-b" and 2.

honzakuzel1989 Over a year ago

Chosen value 2 for parameter "-b" is not suitable because foo.ps1 contains ValidateSet with values 0,1.

Drasius Over a year ago

Nice and clean :). Wasted allot of time trying to pass the args :/.

Drasius Over a year ago

I have argument $dirPath with has spaces in path. Example: "D:\work dir\app". And it throws an error when passing like this: $args += ("-appDir", "$dirPath"). I get error: "The term 'D:\work' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct an d try again." How to pats path with spaces?

Drasius Over a year ago

I did work around ('Set-Location' ..) suggested in this page stackoverflow.com/questions/18537098/…

|

phi1.614 · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-04 10:35:46Z

10

Here is something that might help future readers:

foo.ps1:

param ($Arg1, $Arg2)

Make sure to place the "param" code at the top before any executable code.

bar.ps1:

& "path to foo\foo.ps1" -Arg1 "ValueA" -Arg2 "ValueB"

That's it !

answered Sep 4, 2019 at 10:35

phi1.614

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