.NET Framework - Escape character question

Asked By lawndart

06-Aug-07 01:22 PM

I have a DOS command I'm trying to run from powershell, as part of an
automation script. The problem I'm having is an "Incomplete String
Token" error when I use Invoke-Expression on it. Here are the relevant
bits:

$pwdSetString = "bemcmd.exe -o213 -
i""`{10011001-1001-1001-0101-010101010101`}"" -pw:""$oldPwd"" -
pl:""$newPwd"" -cemslbk01"

$pwdSetString

$results = Invoke-Expression -command $pwdSetString

Output
-------------------------
PS - powershell> ./set-BUEServiceAccountPwd.ps1
bemcmd.exe -o213 -i"{10011001-1001-1001-0101-010101010101}" -pw:"asd" -
pl:"asd" -cmachineName
Invoke-Expression : Incomplete string token.
At \Path\set-BUEServiceAccountPwd.ps1:16 char:29
+ $results = Invoke-Expression  <<<< -command $pwdSetString
BUE Password set result:

I know that the {} characters are the issue, but they are pretty much
required in the command. This command works fine in DOS and I assumed
that escaping them would make PS happy as well. Any ideas on how to
run this?

Lawndart

07-Aug-07 12:08 PM

Try:

PS 1> $pwdSetString = { bemcmd.exe `-o213 `-
i"`{10011001-1001-1001-0101-010101010101`}" `-pwd:"$oldPwd" `-
pl:"$newPwd" `-cemslbk01 }
PS 2> $oldPwd = "blah"
PS 3> $newPwd = "pox"
PS 4> & $pwdSetString

I found that the minus sign parameter prefixes were confusing the
powershell parser as it was treating them as operators; I also changed
it to use scriptblock syntax to get rid of one layer of quotes.

Hope this helps,

- Oisin

07-Aug-07 02:43 PM

Huh, did not think of using a script block for that. That worked quite
well, thanks.

Lawndart