Question

I have a simple script to call select-string for a specific file extension. I want to optionally provide other select-string params via script args.

my script findm.ps1

# simplified version to show error
select-string *.m -pattern $args[0] $args[1]

when I type findm.ps1 someFileName -List

I get the following error

Select-String : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '-List'.

typing the following form the cmd line works fine

select-string *.m -pattern "someFileName" -List

Thanks in advance

jra

Answer 1

The -List is being interpreted as a string (not an argument) by the parser, that needs to be associated with an argument.

Mike was close, but you need to reparse it as a powershell expression after you build your command string like this:

invoke-expression "select-string *.m -pattern $($args[0]) $($args[1])"