Running script to get current directory

PowerShell Help
1

Hi
I want to run a script “currentDir.ps1” that collects the current directory and send it to a text file

Split-Path -Parent $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path | Out-File -Encoding Default test.R

If I run it with right-click in the explorer and run it with “Run with powershell” it runs fine. However, if I want to run it in either as a batch file or from another program using “powershell.exe currentDir.ps1”. This doesn’t work as powershell doesn’t start in the current directory and can’t find the file. Any idea how I can make it work?
Cheers
Renger

2

The $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path is used to pass the current path during a script.

Why are you collecting the current directory ? Does it contain something you need to reference ?

Powershell.exe has a list of syntax’s to use. If you do “PowerShell /?” you will get a list and some help information. The first part looks like this:

C:\Users\Lab>powershell /?

PowerShell[.exe] [-PSConsoleFile | -Version ]
[-NoLogo] [-NoExit] [-Sta] [-Mta] [-NoProfile] [-NonInteractive]
[-InputFormat {Text | XML}] [-OutputFormat {Text | XML}]
[-WindowStyle ] [-EncodedCommand ]
[-File ] [-ExecutionPolicy ]
[-Command { - | [-args ]
| } ]

alternatively you could use 

 get-location

3

I want to run the script so I can parse the current directory to my other external program I wrote (otherwise I have to set it in the program itself and if the directory changes, I have to adjust this manually).
I tried this powershell.exe .\myscript.ps1 and that did the trick
Thanks
Renger

4

If I understand your scenario correctly, you have …

  • A batch/cmd file that call PowerShell
  • A PowerShell script to return the current directory
  • Another call in your batch/cmd file to a program, where you need the path returned from the PowerShell script

If all you are after is the current directory of your batch/cmd file, you really don’t need PowerShell at all. Instead look into the special “%~dp0” variable. This is basicly the same as the $PSScriptRoot variable in PowerShell 3 and later versions (beware that this variable is only populated when running a script.

Consider these examples …

CMD script:

@echo off
cls

echo Script file is in: %~dp0
echo Current directory: %cd%
pause

echo Push location to script dir
pushd %~dp0
echo Current directory: %cd%
pause

echo Pop location (back to where we came from)
popd
echo Current directory: %cd%

PowerShell script:

Clear-Host

Write-Host "Script file is in: $PSScriptRoot"
Write-Host "Current directory: $(Get-Location)"
Pause

Write-Host 'Push location to script dir'
Push-Location $PSScriptRoot
Write-Host "Current directory: $(Get-Location)"
pause

Write-Host 'Pop location (back to where we came from)'
Pop-Location
Write-Host "Current directory: $(Get-Location)"
5

Christian,

I just wanted to thank you for explaining that well. I’m a batch file guy and I’m new to powershell, trying to learn powershell. This explains it very well. :slight_smile: