Scripting

Links

Guide to getting started with Windows PowerShell.

Comment

# This is a comment

Dot Sourcing

If we have a script file, c:\\scripts\\test.ps1, containing:

$A = 5
$B = 10
$C = $A + $B

…and we want any variables used in the script to become global variables:

. c:\scripts\test.ps1

We started the script test.ps1 by dot sourcing it; that means that the variable $C remains alive after the script ends.

Invoke

You can run a script in several different ways:

Invoke-Expression c:\scripts\test.ps1
& c:\scripts\test.ps1
iex c:\scripts\test.ps1
c:\scripts\test.ps1

Running Scripts Without Starting Windows PowerShell

To run c:\\scripts\\test.ps1 from a Windows shortcut, enter the following in the Target field of the shortcut properties:

powershell.exe -noexit c:\scripts\test.ps1

-noexit tells the PowerShell console to remain open after the script finishes.
if the path to the script file contains blank spaces, you need to prefix the command with an ampersand and enclose the script path in single quote marks:
```
powershell.exe -noexit &'c:\my scripts\test.ps1'
```

Issues

execution of scripts is disabled

…by default, Windows PowerShell is not able to run scripts:

File C:\batch\set-env\workstation.ps1 cannot be loaded because the execution of scripts is disabled on this system. Please see "get-help about_signing" for more details.

To solve this issue:

set-executionpolicy remotesigned

The RemoteSigned execution policy allows unsigned scripts to execute from the local computer. Downloaded scripts still have to be signed in order to run.