Question

I’m trying to run a script to output some records from MySQL, however when I try and run the script it’s displaying the MySQL help file, I think the parameters are not being passed to the program correctly.

Here is the script

$path_to_MySQL = "C:\xampp\mysql\bin\mysql.exe"

$param1 = "-h XXX"
$param2 = "-D XXX"  
$param3 = "-u XXX"
$param4 = "-pXXX"
$param5 = "-e ""SELECT 'Test';"""

$params = @($param1, $param2, $param3, $param4, $param5)

write-host $path_to_MySQL $params

&$path_to_MySQL $params

Now this outputs to the display,

C:\xampp\mysql\bin\mysql.exe -h XXX -D XXX -u XXX -pXXX -e "SELECT 'Test';"
ERROR 2005 (HY000): Unknown MySQL server host ' XXX'

The first line is because of the write-host line.

However, when I copy the output from here and run it straight in the console, it runs correctly. (i.e. I have the correct host details)

How can I run this line using the PowerShell Script?

Answer 1

What are you using as server name? Pay attention to the error message: Unknown MySQL server host ' XXX', which quotes the host name as ' XXX' (note the space) instead of 'XXX'.

One gotcha in Powershell is that double quote " strings are evaluated whereas single quote ' strings are not. So if your host name contains special characters, Powershell might mess ’em up. That is,

$foo="foo"

# This will print
# foo walked in bar
"$foo walked in bar"

# This will print:
# $foo walked in bar
'$foo walked in bar'

Try a workaround like so,

$param1 = '-h XXX'
$param2 = '-D XXX'
$param3 = '-u XXX'

And

&$path_to_MySQL $param1 $param2 $param3