How to call powershell script from powershell script by passing the argument

Question

I have script step1.ps1 & it contains the code:

echo "Starting with Step 3: Configuring the OS..."
echo "$args[0] and $args[1]"
step3.ps1 $args[0] $args[1]

I execute this script

powershell.exe install.ps1 <ip-address> <hostname>

Now when step1.ps1 is executed it calls script step3.ps1 & it contains the code:

echo "checking step3"
echo $args[0] and $args[1]
ac -Encoding UTF8  "$($env:windir)\system32\Drivers\etc\hosts" $args[0] $args[1]
echo "HANA DB Host file entry maintained"

It gives me an error:

powershell.exe : Add-Content : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument '<hostname>'.  
At line:1 char:1  
+ powershell.exe install.ps1 <ip-address> ...  
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (Add-Content : A...  
 'vue2dvdbhs5'.:String) [], RemoteException  
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError


At step3.ps1:3 char:1  
+ Add-Content -Value $args[0] $args[1] -Path "$($env:windir)\system32\D ...  
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [Add-Content],  
 ParameterBindingException  
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId :  
 PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.AddContentCommand

Why use the $args array when you can use named parameters? — Bill_Stewart
– Bill_Stewart, Commented Mar 26, 2018 at 14:09
@Bill_Stewart Probably a newer powershell user with batch background. — Maximilian Burszley
– Maximilian Burszley, Commented Mar 26, 2018 at 14:09

Maximilian Burszley · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-26 15:40:46Z

1

Your problem is with the Add-Content (ac) call. As a best-practice in scripts, I suggest you avoid aliases and always name your parameters:

     #Alternative: "$($args[0]) $($args[1])"
     #or           ('{0} {1}' -f $args)
Add-Content -Value ($args[0] + ' ' + $args[1]) -Path "$Env:SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts" -Encoding UTF8

The problem is the interpreter is trying to find a positionally-bound parameter that doesn't exist. It is trying to fill -Value with $args[0] and find another parameter for $args[1]. In this example, I group them with parens and add a space for the hosts file.

Based on your comment:

$IP = Test-Connection -ComputerName $Env:ComputerName -Count 1
Add-Content -Value "$($IP.Address) $($IP.IPV4Address)" -Path "$Env:SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts" -Encoding UTF8

edited Mar 26, 2018 at 15:40

answered Mar 26, 2018 at 14:11

Maximilian Burszley

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4 Comments

hans Over a year ago

Thanks for your patience. Yes, I am beginner in powershell script. Can you please also suggest how to add the system itslef ip-address & hosts. Below is the code I wrote based on the your reference but it did not work. $ipV4 = Test-Connection -ComputerName (hostname) -Count 1 Add-Content -Path "$Env:SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts" -Value "$($ipv4) $($hostname)" -Encoding UTF8

Maximilian Burszley Over a year ago

@hans I've updated my answer with your comment question

hans Over a year ago

Its only updating the ipaddress but not the hostname along with it

Maximilian Burszley Over a year ago

@hans I made a mistake in which member I was accessing. I've updated the answer again to address this. It turns out this cmdlet is just an abstraction of the Win32_PingStatus wmi class

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