How to execute PowerShell commands from a batch file?

Question

I have a PowerShell script to add a website to a Trusted Sites in Internet Explorer:

set-location "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings"
set-location ZoneMap\Domains
new-item TESTSERVERNAME
set-location TESTSERVERNAME
new-itemproperty . -Name http -Value 2 -Type DWORD

I want to execute these PowerShell commands from a batch file. It seems simple when I have to run a single command, BUT in this case I have a sequence of related commands. I want to avoid creating a separate file for the PS script to be called from the batch - everything must be in the batch file.

The question is: How to execute PowerShell commands (or statements) from a batch file?

Answer 1

This is what the code would look like in a batch file(tested, works):

powershell -Command "& {set-location 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings'; set-location ZoneMap\Domains; new-item SERVERNAME; set-location SERVERNAME; new-itemproperty . -Name http -Value 2 -Type DWORD;}"

Based on the information from:

http://dmitrysotnikov.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/powershell-script-in-a-bat-file/

Answer 2

This solution is similar to walid2mi (thank you for inspiration), but allows the standard console input by the Read-Host cmdlet.

pros:

• can be run like standard .cmd file
• only one file for batch and powershell script
• powershell script may be multi-line (easy to read script)
• allows the standard console input (use the Read-Host cmdlet by standard way)

cons:

• requires powershell version 2.0+

Commented and runable example of batch-ps-script.cmd:

<# : Begin batch (batch script is in commentary of powershell v2.0+)
@echo off
: Use local variables
setlocal
: Change current directory to script location - useful for including .ps1 files
cd %~dp0
: Invoke this file as powershell expression
powershell -executionpolicy remotesigned -Command "Invoke-Expression $([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('%~f0'))"
: Restore environment variables present before setlocal and restore current directory
endlocal
: End batch - go to end of file
goto:eof
#>
# here start your powershell script

# example: include another .ps1 scripts (commented, for quick copy-paste and test run)
#. ".\anotherScript.ps1"

# example: standard input from console
$variableInput = Read-Host "Continue? [Y/N]"
if ($variableInput -ne "Y") {
    Write-Host "Exit script..."
    break
}

# example: call standard powershell command
Get-Item .

Snippet for .cmd file:

<# : batch script
@echo off
setlocal
cd %~dp0
powershell -executionpolicy remotesigned -Command "Invoke-Expression $([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('%~f0'))"
endlocal
goto:eof
#>
# here write your powershell commands...

Answer 3

Type in cmd.exe Powershell -Help and see the examples.

Answer 4

untested.cmd

;@echo off
;Findstr -rbv ; %0 | powershell -c - 
;goto:sCode

set-location "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings"
set-location ZoneMap\Domains
new-item TESTSERVERNAME
set-location TESTSERVERNAME
new-itemproperty . -Name http -Value 2 -Type DWORD

;:sCode 
;echo done
;pause & goto :eof

Answer 5

When calling multiline PowerShell statements from a batch file, end each line with a caret, except the last line. You don't have to have the extra spacing at the beginning of the line, that's my convention.

PowerShell set-location "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings" ^
           set-location ZoneMap\Domains ^
           new-item TESTSERVERNAME ^
           set-location TESTSERVERNAME ^
           new-itemproperty . -Name http -Value 2 -Type DWORD

If you are piping into a cmdlet like Select-Object, you need to terminate with a semicolon to end the command, otherwise it will include the next line.

Powershell $disk = Get-WmiObject Win32_LogicalDisk -Filter """"DeviceID='D:'"""" ^| Select-Object Freespace; ^
           Exit ([math]::truncate($disk.freespace / 1GB))

Answer 6

Looking for the possibility to put a powershell script into a batch file, I found this thread. The idea of walid2mi did not worked 100% for my script. But via a temporary file, containing the script it worked out. Here is the skeleton of the batch file:

;@echo off
;setlocal ENABLEEXTENSIONS
;rem make from X.bat a X.ps1 by removing all lines starting with ';' 
;Findstr -rbv "^[;]" %0 > %~dpn0.ps1 
;powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -File %~dpn0.ps1 %*
;del %~dpn0.ps1
;endlocal
;goto :EOF
;rem Here start your power shell script.
param(
    ,[switch]$help
)

Answer 7

I couldn't get any answers to work, but adding @Hassan Voyeau's -Command and ;'s in tandem with @Ed Palmer's formatting made it work:

powershell -Command ^
More? set-location "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings"; ^
More? set-location ZoneMap\Domains; ^
More? new-item TESTSERVERNAME; ^
More? set-location TESTSERVERNAME; ^
More? new-itemproperty . -Name http -Value 2 -Type DWORD

Here, ; tells powershell.exe being called that the current command-line ends there and more command-lines can be specified further while ^ tells CMD (for the sake of simplicity; it's actually called "Windows Script Host") that there may be more string input on the next line. From our perspective, CMD parses multiple command-lines into one command-line via CR/LF line-endings escape character ^ so that powershell.exe sees the one-line command-line -Command set-location ...; set-location ...; ... instead.

• If you want to specify any powershell parameters, do so before -Command since powershell.exe interprets command-lines subsequent to -Command as -Command's single code-block argument. Using curly-braces to explicitly delimit the code block like -Command {set-location ...; ...} doesn't allow specifying powershell parameters afterward, e.g. -Command {...} -NoExit, either.
• In this formatting, don't use " to delimit -Command's argument like @Hassan Voyeau's since CMD interprets ^ inside unclosed " as a literal caret character.
• Using ^ as the first character on any line after the first line will also make CMD interpret it as a literal caret character. Use a whitespace before one to semantically designate an empty line instead.
• If you want to include a comment between code, use PowerShell's block-comment <# .. #> (PowerShell's in-line comment # which denotes all subsequent characters as part of its comment can't be escaped since, again, ^ parses multiple command-lines into one command-line.) However, without " as in @Hassan Voyeau's to encapsulate < and >, CMD will parse them as I/O redirection operators which we can escape by using a prefixing-caret like ^<# COMMENT GOES HERE #^>. If you insert a block-comment on an empty line, ^ will become the first character of the line and will be interpreted as a literal caret character so we work around that like earlier by inserting a prefixing whitespace to get:

  ⋮
  More? COMMAND ARG1 ARG2 ...; ^<# IN-LINE BLOCK COMMENT #^> ^
  More?  ^<# SEPARATE-LINE BLOCK COMMENT #^> ^
  More? COMMAND ARG1 ARG2 ...;^<# NO PREFIXING/SUFFIXING SPACES REQUIRED #^>^
  ⋮
  

• To escape characters in arguments, use PowerShell's escape character backtick/grave-accent `. Since backticks aren't one of its escape characters (^ for I/O redirection operators, \ for double-quotes, % for percent), CMD won't consume backticks.
  • If your arguments contains spaces but not escape characters, you can use single-quotes to delimit the argument. CMD will parse it as multiple arguments still since the spaces aren't delimited but PowerShell will correctly piece it back together with spaces reattached.
  • If your arguments contains escape characters, you can use double-quotes encapsulating CMD-escaped double-quotes or the other way around to commands. The unescaped double-quotes tell CMD that special characters within, e.g. spaces, mustn't be treated as argument separators while CMD-escaped double-quotes pass onto and are parsed by PowerShell as normal double-quotes. The escape character for double-quotes is \. (Quoting/Escaping 1/2) For instance:

  More? write-output 'there are spaces here'; ^
  More? write-output "\"new line`r`nhere\""; ^
  More? write-output \""also`r`nhere"\"; ^
  

  will result in:

  there are spaces here
  new line
  here
  also
  here