Calling PowerShell from a batch file fails

Question

When I call following command from the command line, everything works well. But when I put it in a .bat file and call that file, I get the syntax error saying that I'm missing a closing ' at the end of the command.

powershell -command "& 'C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe' status  | ? { $_ -Match '^!\s+(.*)' } | % { & 'C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe' rm $Matches[1] }"

A strange thing that happens when I call it from .bat is that command gets mysteriously changed. This is the output of the .bat file:

C:\workspace>powershell -command "& 'C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe' status  | ? { $
_ -Match '^!\s+(.*)' } | \Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe' rm $Matches[1] }"
The string is missing the terminator: '.
    + CategoryInfo          : ParserError: (:) [], ParentContainsErrorRecordException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : TerminatorExpectedAtEndOfString

I'm 100% sure that the content of the .bat file and the command I run manually are the same and that editor (Notepad++) does not perform a stupid thing like breaking the command in two lines.

What am I doing wrong?

} | \Program Files\T in that section you are missing a single quote. Should be } | '\Program Files\T or } | 'C:\Program Files\T. The code, in your examples, differs because of that. — Matt
– Matt, Commented Aug 18, 2014 at 16:32

Mofi · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-18 16:40:17Z

2

Character % anywhere in a string must be escaped with one more % in a batch file to be interpreted as literal character.

powershell -command "& 'C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe' status  | ? { $_ -Match '^!\s+(.*)' } | %% { & 'C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin\svn.exe' rm $Matches[1] }"

works in a batch file. Enter in a command prompt window help for or for /? and you can read about this requirement for escaping % on first help page output.

answered Aug 18, 2014 at 16:40

Mofi

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1 Comment

mario Over a year ago

I was trying literally every combination of escaping for " and ' and \, but it haven't occurred to me that % requires escaping. Thanks a lot.

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