What is the "best" way to handle command-line arguments?
It seems like there are several answers on what the "best" way is and as a result I am stuck on how to handle something as simple as:
script.ps1 /n name /d domain AND
script.ps1 /d domain /n name. Is there a plugin that can handle this better? I know I am reinventing the wheel here.
Obviously what I have already isn't pretty and surely isn't the "best", but it works.. and it is UGLY.
for ( $i = 0; $i -lt $args.count; $i++ ) { if ($args[ $i ] -eq "/n"){ $strName=$args[ $i+1 ]} if ($args[ $i ] -eq "-n"){ $strName=$args[ $i+1 ]} if ($args[ $i ] -eq "/d"){ $strDomain=$args[ $i+1 ]} if ($args[ $i ] -eq "-d"){ $strDomain=$args[ $i+1 ]} } Write-Host $strName Write-Host $strDomain 1 Answer
You are reinventing the wheel. Normal PowerShell scripts have parameters starting with -, like script.ps1 -server
Then you handle them in a param section (note that this must begin at the first non-commented line in your script).
You can also assign default values to your params, read them from console if not available or stop script execution:
param ( [string]$server = "", [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$username, [string]$password = $( Read-Host "Input password, please" ) ) Inside the script you can simply
write-output $server since all parameters become variables available in script scope.
In this example, the $server gets a default value if the script is called without it, script stops if you omit the -username parameter and asks for terminal input if -password is omitted.
Update: You might also want to pass a "flag" (a boolean true/false parameter) to a PowerShell script. For instance, your script may accept a "force" where the script runs in a more careful mode when force is not used.
The keyword for that is [switch] parameter type:
param ( [string]$server = "", [string]$password = $( Read-Host "Input password, please" ), [switch]$force = $false ) Inside the script then you would work with it like this:
if ($force) { //deletes a file or does something "bad" } Now, when calling the script you'd set the switch/flag parameter like this:
.\yourscript.ps1 -server "" -force If you explicitly want to state that the flag is not set, there is a special syntax for that
.\yourscript.ps1 -server "" -force:$false Links to relevant Microsoft documentation (for PowerShell 5.0; tho versions 3.0 and 4.0 are also available at the links):
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