Term ' ' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet

Question

I'm trying to run this in one line using the "Run" command:

powershell -NoExit ; Get-ChildItem -Recurse -force -Include *.ost \\PcHostname\c$\users -ErrorAction "SilentlyContinue" | ls | Select-Object Name, @{Name="GigaBytes";Expression={$_.Length / 1GB}}

but I get this error:

GigaBytes : The term 'GigaBytes' 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:137
+ ... t Name, @{Name=GigaBytes;Expression={$_.Length / 1GB}}
+                    ~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (GigaBytes:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

The code works on a started Powershell window without powershell -NoExit ;.

Any ideas to fix it?

@Rahul I mean, Start->Run "PasteTheCode" but I get the error... Did you tried the same steps? — pedaleo, Jun 18 '14 at 13:42
That way you will get error most probably. Instead do start->run->powershell. once shell window comes up .. paste the coe and run. it will be fine — Rahul, Jun 18 '14 at 13:46
@Rahul I need to change the hostname on the fly, another software is involved, thats why I looking that way. I want to believe theres something to get it work as I need:( — pedaleo, Jun 18 '14 at 14:02

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

Due to the way command line arguments are tokenized through "Run", you need to either escape the double quotes around GigaBytes (using the \ escape character) or substitute them with single quotes. Either of these two Select-Object commands should work:

Select-Object Name, @{Name=\"GigaBytes\";Expression={$_.Length / 1GB}}

or

Select-Object Name, @{Name='GigaBytes';Expression={$_.Length / 1GB}}

This is because anything wrapped in double quotes will be interpreted as a single argument.

See this answer for a more detailed explanation as to how command line arguments are tokenized through "Run".

thanks, finally I discovered pass parameters but THAT is help full. — pedaleo, Jun 25 '14 at 22:09

Term ' ' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet

1 Answers1