Passing argument to powershell script from batch puts spaces

Question

I am using a batch file runpowershellscript.bat to invoke a powershell script sample.ps1. When I pass an argument to the batch file, the batch sends that argument to the powershell script. When I print the argument in sample.ps1, the argument has a space each around them. Why is that space getting added?

runpowershellscript.bat

@echo off

setlocal
SET SCRIPT=%1
SET PATH=%PATH%;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowershell\v1.0\

if "%2"=="" (
REM no arguments
powershell -executionpolicy bypass -File %1
goto :END
)

if not "%3"=="" (
REM 2 arguments
powershell -executionpolicy bypass -File %1 %2 %3
goto :END
) 

if not "%2"=="" (
REM 1 argument
powershell -executionpolicy bypass -File %1 %2
goto :END
) 

:END
endlocal

sample.ps1

Write-Host "number of arguments=" $args.Count

for($i = 0; $i -lt $args.Count; $i++) {
    Write-Host "[",$args[$i],"]"
}
Write-Host ""

if ($args[0]) {
Write-Host "Hello,",$args[0]
}
else {
Write-Host "Hello,World"
}

version of powershell

PS C:\eclipse\batch> Get-Host


Name             : ConsoleHost
Version          : 2.0
InstanceId       : 7b72da6c-5e6c-4c68-9280-39ae8320f57e
UI               : System.Management.Automation.Internal.Host.InternalHostUserI
                   nterface
CurrentCulture   : en-GB
CurrentUICulture : en-US
PrivateData      : Microsoft.PowerShell.ConsoleHost+ConsoleColorProxy
IsRunspacePushed : False
Runspace         : System.Management.Automation.Runspaces.LocalRunspace

Command line content below, when I run the batch

C:\batch>.\runpowershellscript.bat sample.ps1 firstarg
number of arguments= 1
[ firstarg ]

Hello, firstarg

Please note that there is no space between Hello, and $args[0] in the ps1 script. I was not expecting a space between Hello, and firstarg.

Thanks.

Answer 1

You're using the wrong concatenation operator. By using a comma, you're passing an array rather than a string to Write-Host and therefore it adds the space between the elements.

Try instead:

if ($args[0]) {
  Write-Host "Hello,$($args[0])"
}

That should solve it.