Passing Boolean powershell parameters from a non-powershell terminal

Question

Sometimes I invoke powershell scripts from Linux bash/shell scripts like so:

pwsh MyScript.ps1 win-x64 false

And in my MyScript.ps1 file, I set up parameters like so:

[CmdletBinding()]
param (
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
    [string] $runtime,
    [Parameter()]
    [bool] $singleFile = $true
)

I get an error for the second parameter:

Cannot process argument transformation on parameter 'singleFile'. Cannot convert value "System.String" to type "System.Boolean". Boolean parameters accept only Boolean values and numbers, such as $True, $False, 1 or 0.

I tried passing '$false' as well as 0 but it treats everything as a string. When invoking powershell scripts from outside of a PWSH terminal, how do I get it to coerce my string-boolean value into an actual Powershell boolean type?

In fact your code is working with : & '.\Sans titre1.ps1' toto -singleFile 1. I had it a the end of my answer. — JPBlanc
– JPBlanc, Commented Jul 24, 2022 at 18:55

JPBlanc · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-25 03:27:50Z

4

I propose to use [switch]

[CmdletBinding()]
param (
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
    [string] $runtime,
    [Parameter()]
    [switch] $singleFile
)
Write-Host $runtime

It works for me with :

pwsh ".\MyScript.ps1" "toto" -singlefile

In fact your code is working with :

pwsh ".\MyScript.ps1" toto -singleFile 1

edited Jul 25, 2022 at 3:27

answered Jul 24, 2022 at 18:41

JPBlanc

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5 Comments

void.pointer Over a year ago

I love this. It doesn't answer my question, but I'm OK with that since it's apparent that my approach is wrong.

void.pointer Over a year ago

My code is not working on Windows when I execute the following using Git Bash: pwsh MyScript.ps1 foo 0.

zett42 Over a year ago

@void.pointer When called like this, 0 will be passed as a string, which doesn't convert to [bool]. Only actual numeric literals, which you can only define by PowerShell script, do convert. Try this: pwsh -command "& {.\MyScript.ps1 foo 0}". Of course, you could also just write pwsh -command "& {.\MyScript.ps1 foo $false}".

mklement0 Over a year ago

@zett42, note that here's no reason to use "& { ... }" in order to invoke code passed to PowerShell's CLI via the -Command (-c) parameter - just use "..." directly. Older versions of the CLI documentation erroneously suggested that & { ... } is required, but this has since been corrected. In other words: pwsh -c ".\Myscript.ps1 foo 0" will do, for example.

void.pointer Over a year ago

@zett42 I'm marking this as the answer, so thank you. I think it would be helpful to amend your answer to include your solution (with the more concise syntax described by @mklement0). Thanks to you both!

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