Section 7.5. Recap: Replacing Common Batch File Syntax

7.5. Recap: Replacing Common Batch File Syntax

In this chapter, we've looked at several of the parallels between cmd.exe batch files and MSH scripts. It's safe to assume that anything that can be expressed in batch file syntax can be translated into an MSH script, but scripts cannot just be renamed and expected to run.

Table 7-1 is a quick reference that maps batch file syntax to MSH syntax. With more complex batch files, there may be a need to restructure their layout (especially if they're heavily dependent on GOTOs), but this should provide a good starting point.

Table 7-1. Batch file to MSH script cheat sheet

CMD.EXE batch file	MSH script
REM comment:: comment	# comment
PAUSE	read-host 'Press ENTER to continue'
CALL batchfile	& scriptfile
IF test command	if (test) { command }
IF NOT test command	if (!test) { command }
IF test command1 IF test command2	if (test) { command1; command2 }
IF EXIST path command	if (test-path path) { command }
SHIFT	$argPosition=0 # start of the script... $args[$argPosition++]
%* %1	$args $args[0]
FOR %%f IN (filespec) DO command	foreach ($f in $(get-childitem filespec)) { command }
IF ERRORLEVEL x command	if ($lastexitcode -eq x) { command }
GOTO label	See Untangle GOTO-based batch files
SET var=value	$env:var=value #environment variables $var=value #shell variables

Let's now turn our focus away from cmd.exe migration tasks and toward some everyday tasks that are well-suited to MSH scripts. We'll shift gears for the next few pages and cover a number of different commands, scripts, and functions without getting into too much detail.