Sometimes you need to execute PowerShell script or
commands from C# code. In this article I’ll explain various methods to execute
PowerShell scripts and commands from C# code.
You can execute PowerShell scripts using PowerShell object
available in ‘System.Management.Automation’ namespace. This assembly is
available in Nuget for download. You can create PowerShell instance and assign
script file or command which you would like to execute. You can also get output
from PowerShell command after execution and read data from PSObject object.
Let’s have look on below example which executes PowerShell
scripts from C# code.
Code –
using System;
using System.Management.Automation;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
using (PowerShell PowerShellInst = PowerShell.Create())
{
string criteria = "system*";
PowerShellInst.AddScript("Get-Service
-DisplayName " + criteria);
Collection<PSObject> PSOutput = PowerShellInst.Invoke();
foreach (PSObject obj in PSOutput)
{
if (obj != null)
{
Console.Write(obj.Properties["Status"].Value.ToString() + " -
");
Console.WriteLine(obj.Properties["DisplayName"].Value.ToString());
}
}
Console.WriteLine("Done");
Console.Read();
}
}
Output –
Now I want to execute below PowerShell script file using C#
code.
Code –
using System;
using System.Management.Automation;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//Execute PS1
(PowerShell script) file
using (PowerShell PowerShellInst = PowerShell.Create())
{
string path = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(@"C:\Temp\") + "\\Get-EventLog.ps1";
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(path))
PowerShellInst.AddScript(System.IO.File.ReadAllText(path));
Collection<PSObject> PSOutput = PowerShellInst.Invoke();
foreach (PSObject obj in PSOutput)
{
if (obj != null)
{
Console.Write(obj.Properties["EntryType"].Value.ToString() + " -
");
Console.Write(obj.Properties["Source"].Value.ToString() + " -
");
Console.WriteLine(obj.Properties["Message"].Value.ToString() + " -
");
}
}
Console.WriteLine("Done");
Console.Read();
}
}
Output –
Command Prompt - You can execute PowerShell scripts and command using
PowerShell.exe like below in command prompt.
Similarly you can invoke PowerShell process from C# code and
pass command as argument. See below example how execute PowerShell process from
code and pass cmdlet as argument.
Code –
using System;
using System.Management.Automation;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//execute
powershell cmdlets or scripts using command arguments as process
ProcessStartInfo processInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
processInfo.FileName = @"powershell.exe";
//execute powershell
script using script file
//processInfo.Arguments
= @"& {c:\temp\Get-EventLog.ps1}";
//execute
powershell command
processInfo.Arguments = @"& {Get-EventLog -LogName Application -Newest 10
-EntryType Information | Select EntryType, Message}";
processInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
processInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
processInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
processInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;
//start
powershell process using process start info
Process process = new Process();
process.StartInfo = processInfo;
process.Start();
//read output
Console.WriteLine("Output - {0}", process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd());
//read errors
Console.WriteLine("Errors - {0}", process.StandardError.ReadToEnd());
Console.Read();
}
Output –
You can download code from
Gist.
Thank you for reading this article. Please leave your
feedback in comments below.
Reference –
See Also –
