Formatting of Output and expanding variables

PowerShell Help
1

by surge3333 at 2012-08-31 11:37:58

I’m trying to run a little script which reads an input file and formats copy statements into a batch file that will be executed later. I’m having issues getting the formatting as I need it, and the closest I’ve come is the following, which doesn’t expand the variable I need in the copy statement –

foreach ($Money in (gc "E:\MoneyShot.txt")) {Write-Output ’ "XCOPY /e /i /q /s "\Server1\f$\Program Files\Somewhere$Money" "\Server2\e$\SomewhereElse$Money" ’ | Out-File "E:\Test.bat" -append}


Creates this for me –

"XCOPY /e /i /q /s "\Server1\f$\Program Files\Somewhere$Money" "\Server2\e$\SomewhereElse$Money"

Any idea how I can get this formatting to work such that the $Money variable is expanded here?


Thanks
by DonJ at 2012-08-31 11:44:20
So, the f$ may well be confusing it. Try using f$ (which will escape that $). <br><br>But the big problem is that your string is delimited in single quotes. Variable replacement only happens inside double quotes. It's the outermost set of quotes that determine this; the fact that you're using double quotes internally doesn't matter. If you NEED to use double quotes, do this:<br><br><code><br>Write-Output &quot; "XCOPY /e /i /q /s &quot;\\Server1\f$\Program Files\Somewhere$Money&quot; "\Server2\e$\SomewhereElse\$Money" "


I’m using double quotes as the outermost set, and then escaping the internal ones so they’ll be seen as literals, not as string delimiters.
by mjolinor at 2012-08-31 12:40:22
Another option is to use an expandable here-string:
[script=powershell]$Money = 'ThisIsMoney'

$text = @"
"XCOPY /e /i /q /s "\Server1\f$\Program Files\Somewhere$Money" "\Server2\e$\SomewhereElse$Money"
"@

$text[/script]

Inside the here-string, variables and sub-expressions will be expanded but normal quoting rules do not apply. You can put whatever kind of quotes you want, wherever you want them - even out of balance quotes (hint).
by DonJ at 2012-08-31 12:50:13
Ah, yes, the here-string! So, surge3333, the trick there is again to have the double quotes be the outermost set. Within a here-string, any other double quotes are automatically treated as literals, so they won’t "close" the string. The here-string is closed by the final "@, which must start on a newline as mjolinor has done. Great option.