Powershell Scripts and Batch File

Normally I create a PS script project and then run it as a job in a batch file. Occasionally, I need to execute a batch job from my PS script. Here are two tips.

First to execute a PS script in batch file, run it from PS with script name and additional arguments:

Powershell myscript.ps1 argument1, 'argument two'

Notice that if there is a space in an argument, use single quote instead of double quotes.

Second tip is about calling a batch file from PS script, use the cmd /c to execute a batch file. For example, the following case is to use PS script to format the current date time asa string and then run a bat with the string as its argument:

# get the current date time
$date = Get-Date
# format the date time as a string
$argDateTime = "{0:d4}{1:d2}{2:d2}_{3}{4}{5}" `
  -f $date.Year, $date.Month, $date.Day, $date.Hour, $date.Minute, $date.Second
# build a command line: $args[0] is a bat file
$cmdApp = ("{0} {1}" -f $args[0], $argDateTime)
# run the bat with a formatted date time string as argument
cmd /c $cmdApp