Question

I’m trying to run a command in cmd using C# and am having some difficulties. I’d like to be able to write the command to the cmd console so I can see what it’s trying to run (I think there’s some issue with the quotes or something, so if I could see the actual string in the command line, I’d be able to see exactly what the problem is). My code looks like this:

var processStartInfo  = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd", "/c"+commandString);
processStartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
Process.Start(processStartInfo);

So basically, I just want to see the string commandString written in the console. Any help would be greatly greatly appreciated.

string CommandLineString = @"""C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn\bcp.exe"" ""SELECT * FROM table where date >= '2009-01-01'"" queryout  ""C:\Data\data.dat"" -S DBSW0323 -d CMS -n -T";

Answer 1

In this case, the problem is probably just your lack of a space after “/c”.

var processStartInfo  = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd", "/c " + commandString);

As for viewing in a command window, instead, you will probably be better off inspecting the Arguments property of your processStartInfo instance.

EDIT

Taking into account the command line details you posted, I believe this is what your issue is. Check out the following from cmd help:

If /C or /K is specified, then the remainder of the command line after
the switch is processed as a command line, where the following logic is
used to process quote (“) characters:

1. If all of the following conditions are met, then quote characters
   on the command line are preserved:

   • no /S switch
   • exactly two quote characters
   • no special characters between the two quote characters,
     where special is one of: &<>()@^|
   • there are one or more whitespace characters between the
     the two quote characters
   • the string between the two quote characters is the name
     of an executable file.

Since you are using /c, you have quote and special char issues still. Try wrapping your entire commandString in a set of quotes.

Take this simple example for instance (creating temp.txt manually of course):

string commandString = @"""C:\WINDOWS\Notepad.exe"" ""C:\temp.txt""";
var processStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd", "/c " + commandString);

The command line to be executed will be: /c "C:\WINDOWS\Notepad.exe" "C:\temp.txt", but this will fail since “C:\temp.txt” is not an executable.

If you wrap the whole thing in one last set of quotes, you should see the intended result:

string commandString = @"""""C:\WINDOWS\Notepad.exe"" ""C:\temp.txt""""";
var processStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd", "/c " + commandString);

Resulting in a command line of: /c ""C:\WINDOWS\Notepad.exe" "C:\temp.txt"" and ultimately opening notepad with your test file.