PowerShell 2.0 and “The term ‘Param’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program”

powershell

I am running Windows 7 RTM. PowerShell 2.0 is installed by default. I am using the excellent Windows PowerShell ISE to edit my scripts. I have the following script:

Param($p)
Param($d)
echo $p $d

I save the script as SayItAgain.ps1. When I try to run this script from the interactive shell like so:

./SayItAgain -p "Hello"

I receive the following error:

The term 'Param' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.

At C:\users\cius\Code\powershell\SayItAgain.ps1:2 char:6
+ Param <<<< ($destination)
    + CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (Param:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

Is this a known issue or am I simply using it wrong?

Best Answer

If your param($p) is not the first line in your script that can cause the Param error.

Make sure your param($p) is the first line.

Related Solutions

PowerShell says “execution of scripts is disabled on this system.”

If you're using Windows Server 2008 R2 then there is an x64 and x86 version of PowerShell both of which have to have their execution policies set. Did you set the execution policy on both hosts?

As an Administrator, you can set the execution policy by typing this into your PowerShell window:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

For more information, see Using the Set-ExecutionPolicy Cmdlet.

When you are done, you can set the policy back to its default value with:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Restricted

You may see an error:

Access to the registry key
'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.PowerShell' is denied. 
To change the execution policy for the default (LocalMachine) scope, 
  start Windows PowerShell with the "Run as administrator" option. 
To change the execution policy for the current user, 
  run "Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser".

So you may need to run the command like this (as seen in comments):

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser

Powershell – Call PowerShell script PS1 from another PS1 script inside Powershell ISE

In order to find the location of a script, use Split-Path $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path (make sure you use this in the script context).

The reason you should use that and not anything else can be illustrated with this example script.

## ScriptTest.ps1
Write-Host "InvocationName:" $MyInvocation.InvocationName
Write-Host "Path:" $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path

Here are some results.

PS C:\Users\JasonAr> .\ScriptTest.ps1
InvocationName: .\ScriptTest.ps1
Path: C:\Users\JasonAr\ScriptTest.ps1

PS C:\Users\JasonAr> . .\ScriptTest.ps1
InvocationName: .
Path: C:\Users\JasonAr\ScriptTest.ps1

PS C:\Users\JasonAr> & ".\ScriptTest.ps1"
InvocationName: &
Path: C:\Users\JasonAr\ScriptTest.ps1

In PowerShell 3.0 and later you can use the automatic variable $PSScriptRoot:

## ScriptTest.ps1
Write-Host "Script:" $PSCommandPath
Write-Host "Path:" $PSScriptRoot

PS C:\Users\jarcher> .\ScriptTest.ps1
Script: C:\Users\jarcher\ScriptTest.ps1
Path: C:\Users\jarcher

Best Answer

Related Solutions

PowerShell says “execution of scripts is disabled on this system.”

Powershell – Call PowerShell script PS1 from another PS1 script inside Powershell ISE

Related Topic