Keep quotes in $args using PowerShell

Question 1

The only way I can think of without being able to modify the input parameters would still require modifying the command called somewhat.

In order to preserve the quotes, perhaps try capturing the full command-line that the PowerShell script was called with.

So I put this in the test1.ps1 script:

Write-Host (Get-WmiObject -Query "select CommandLine from Win32_Process where CommandLine like '%test1%'").CommandLine

Then this is what is returned if the script is called in this manner:

PS C:\temp> powershell .\test1.ps1 a=application o="this object" msg_text="this is a text"
"C:\Windows\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"  .\test1.ps1 a=application "o=this object" "msg_text=this is a text"

This is only possible if a new instance of PowerShell is called, however, otherwise the parameters won't be available by this method:

PS C:\temp> .\test1.ps1 a=application o="this object" msg_text="this is a text" > zzz3.txt

PS C:\temp>

Of course if this approach is taken, you'll then need to parse the input arguments manually, which you might be able to do with help of the $args object. It's a long-shot, but does preserve the quotes.

Question 2

You can escape quotes in PowerShell with a backtick:

.\test1.ps1 a=application o="`"this object`"" msg_text="`"this is a text`""

You can also nest double quotes inside single quotes (or vice versa) but beware that variables are not evaluated in a string delimited with single quotes.

.\test1.ps1 a=application o='"this object"' msg_text='"this is a text"'

Additionally, why use $args at all? Why not use the massively powerful inbuilt parameter system?