How to run a PowerShell script within a Windows batch file

Question

How do I have a PowerShell script embedded within the same file as a Windows batch script?

I know this kind of thing is possible in other scenarios:

• Em

Answer 1

Here the topic has been discussed. The main goals were to avoid the usage of temporary files to reduce the slow I/O operations and to run the script without redundant output.

And here's the best solution according to me:

<# :
@echo off
setlocal
set "POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS=%*"
if defined POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS set "POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS=%POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS:"=\"%"
endlocal & powershell -NoLogo -NoProfile -Command "$input | &{ [ScriptBlock]::Create( ( Get-Content \"%~f0\" ) -join [char]10 ).Invoke( @( &{ $args } %POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS% ) ) }"
goto :EOF
#>

param(
    [string]$str
);

$VAR = "Hello, world!";

function F1() {
    $str;
    $script:VAR;
}

F1;

An even better way (seen here):

<# : batch portion (begins PowerShell multi-line comment block)


@echo off & setlocal
set "POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS=%*"

echo ---- FROM BATCH
powershell -noprofile -NoLogo "iex (${%~f0} | out-string)"
exit /b %errorlevel%

: end batch / begin PowerShell chimera #>

$VAR = "---- FROM POWERSHELL";
$VAR;
$POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS=$env:POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS
$POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS

where POWERSHELL_BAT_ARGS are command line arguments first set as variable in the batch part.

The trick is in the batch redirection priority - this line <# : will be parsed like :<#, because redirection is with higher priority than the other commands.

But the lines starting with : in batch files are taken as labels - i.e., not executed. Still this remains a valid PowerShell comment.

The only thing left is to find a proper way for PowerShell to read and execute %~f0 which is the full path to the script executed by cmd.exe.