When trying to run PowerShell.exe with command line argument -Version, you may get the following error: -Version : The term '-Version' 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 and try again.
At line:1 char:1
+ -Version 2.0 -InputFormat none -File C:\SomeFolder\YoutScript.ps1
+ ~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (-Version:String) [], CommandNot
FoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
The command line used: powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Version 2.0 -InputFormat none -File C:\SomeFolder\YoutScript.ps1
You can resolve this error, by changing order of Version parameter:
This seems like a bug, because official documentation for the PowerShell does not mention order of parameters. Even more, the use Execution Policy before Version. See the following PowerShell help article in MS site.
This article is from our Febooti archive, it was relevant then, and I think that it is still relevant today (a few details changed).
Previous article: IF statement in DOS batch file.
The two most commonly used redirection operators used in console are the output redirection operator (>) and the input redirection operator (<). The output redirection operator > is used to send the command output to somewhere other than the screen. A plain text file would be an example. The next example shows how to put the results of the DIR command into a text document. Let us name the text file file-list.txt:
C:\>dir >file-list.txt
When this command is entered either at a Windows CMD prompt or in a batch file/script you do not see the directory listing like you would if you had simply entered the DIR command. Instead, a file is created and in this case the file is named file-list.txt. This can be used to capture practically any command.
Run this file several times and notice the changes. Each time you run this program (DIR >file-list.txt), the result of the DIR command gets saved to that file-list.txt file. Note that “>” will erase the preceding contents and save the new DIR listing information. But what if we wanted to create a type of log that would append and save each new occurrences of the above program? We can use what is called the append redirection operator. This is done by adding another greater than sign (>>).
C:\>DIR >>file-list.txt
Next we have the input redirection operator (<). The input redirection operator is used to send the contents of a file to a DOS command (normally the contents of keyboard input get sent to the DOS command).
An example of when you would want to do this would be if you have a text file already prepared, or for use in the batch script, when run in unattended mode. You can enter the following command sequence:
C:\>more <file-list.txt
If your DIR listing was very long, then you would be prompted to “Press any key to continue…” after a screen-full (one page) of data was displayed. Once you pressed any key you would see the next page of text. If it was short then the MORE command will simply display the whole text as if you typed the TYPE command. The TYPE command is used to display the contents of a file. You do not need to use a redirection operator to use the TYPE command.
C:\>type file-list.txt
This will type out the contents of file-list.txt to screen. And if the file contains more than one screen, it will display the text very fast, and you may only see the last page.
The next command we will learn is the DOS piping command. The pipe | can usually be inserted to the command prompt by holding down the SHIFT key and pressing the key to the direct left of the backspace key (or under backspace on some keyboards). DOS piping is a technique that combines both the output and input redirection operators. We can capture the output of one command and send it as the input to another command. Example:
C:\>dir | more
In this example the pipe command captures the output of the DIR command and sends it as input to the MORE command which will display one screen-full of results at a time.
You will come to find that batch scripting really does have a great amount of power. However, there will be a times when you will find that batch scripting is not powerful enough. When you find yourself in a such situations, you may want to look at other scripting possibilities such as multi-platform Python, Perl, Lua, or if you need all native Windows way, PowerShell is the answer.
This article is from our Febooti archive, it was relevant then, and I think that it is still relevant today (a few details changed).
This article is from our Febooti archive, it was relevant then, and I think that it is still relevant today (a few details changed).
Previous article: Loops in the Batch files with examples.
The IF command in the batch scripting is very similar to the IF statement in other programming languages. The IF command allows you to branch the execution of the batch file into two separate paths depending on some condition.
The basic syntax of IF command is: IF {Statement} {If statement is TRUE, perform this action}
If the statement being tested is TRUE, then perform the action on the same line (to the right side of IF). If the statement is FALSE, then continue to the next line. The TRUE action statement is, essentially, ignored in case of FALSE. A GOTO command could perhaps be present on this line to send processing of the batch file to another location in the script. The IF command is great for testing three types of conditions including replaceable parameters, system ERRORLEVEL, and it can compare two strings.
Remember that several IF commands can be stacked one after another, to test more conditions, or to create tree like algorithms. An algorithm is simply your solution to the problem at hand.
Here is an example that tests replaceable parameters (Note that on some versions of Windows or a different configuration of your command prompt might change how this example is run. Play around with it and your CMD interpreter settings): :: LOOP.BAT
:: Compares Replaceable parameters.
@ECHO OFF
:TOP
IF (%1)==() GOTO END
ECHO Value is "%1" and still running...
SHIFT
GOTO TOP
:END
Loop.bat executed with 3 parameters on the Windows 8.1
The first two lines are remark statements indicating the name of the program as well as a brief description of what the program does. The third line brings command echoing to a standstill. Line four marks off the label for sub program that a GOTO command could hop to. Line 5 tests for a blank (empty) replaceable parameter. When %1 contains any information then that information gets placed in the first set of parentheses (parameter)==() and evaluates to FALSE. This is what we want. A common mistake is to omit the parentheses, however we need them so we do not create an infinite loop.
When replaceable parameter %1 is empty, the test becomes ()==() and appropriately evaluates to TRUE. This line is the core code of this batch script. When the expression evaluates to TRUE the GOTO END command is executed. This essentially ends the program. When the expression (condition) is FALSE, the next line of code is executed. The sixth line displays the value of parameter combined in message, Value is “something” and still running… using the ECHO command. That next line of code contains the SHIFT command. We know that the SHIFT command shifts the values of replaceable parameters over. The last line is the END label symbolizing the end of the program.
Note that the indents do not change your code and are not mandatory, however it is easier to read code if we indent everything inside the IF block.
The IF command is a handy command by itself, however it yields great possibilities when combined with other commands. Such as the EXIST command. The EXIST command is used to test the existence of a file. This can be done using the following syntax scheme:
IF EXIST command syntax: IF EXIST {filename} {If filename exist, perform this action}
Lets consider example, where we pass 3 parameters to the batch file, and assume that each of the params is a filename: :: ExistFile.BAT
:: Example of IF EXIST command sequence.
@ECHO OFF
IF EXIST %1 ECHO File %1 exists!
IF EXIST %2 ECHO File %2 exists!
IF EXIST %3 ECHO File %3 exists!
Example output when passed 3 parameters, and only first file exists. Tested under Windows 8.1
Lines 1 and 2 are remark statements indicating the name of the batch file and a brief description of what the batch file does. Line 3 turns off command echoing. Lines 4 through line 6 tests the existence of whatever values are in the replaceable parameters 1, 2, and 3 respectively. This program is rather trivial, but servers as a good example.
