PowerShell Issue with Get-Content

Question

I have an issue. When I run a command:

powershell -command "gc C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQLServer\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\LOG\ERRORLOG -totalcount 5

There is an error:

"Get-Content : A positional parameter cannot be found that accepts argument 'Files\Microsoft'. At line:1 char:3 + gc <<<< C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\LOG\ERRORLOG -to talcount 5 + CategoryInfo : InvalidArgument: (:) [Get-Content], ParameterBindingException +FullyQualifiedErrorId:PositionalParameterNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetContentCommand"

Can you help me with that?

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 01 '14 at 13:11

8

Always put your path between quotes when it contains spaces.

Get-Content -Path "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQLServer\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\LOG\ERRORLOG" -TotalCount 5

answered Oct 01 '14 at 13:11

Jente

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score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 01 '14 at 13:03

3

Try using single quotes around the file path:

powershell -command "gc 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQLServer\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\LOG\ERRORLOG' -totalcount 5"

answered Oct 01 '14 at 13:03

Richard

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score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 01 '14 at 13:02

The problem is that your path contains space characters (e.g. between C:\Program and Files\Microsoft), and powershell uses this as a delimiter between parameters. Try the following to group the path together as string:

powershell -command "gc 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQLServer\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\LOG\ERRORLOG' -totalcount 5"

PowerShell Issue with Get-Content

3 Answers3