Powershell: Feature Request: Allow Convert-Path to accept literal paths as pipeline inputs

[schuelermine]

Add a parameter like -InterpretPipeLiterally such that

$Values | Convert-Path -InterpretPipeLiterally

is equivalent to

```
$Values | ForEach-Object {Convert-Path -LiteralPath $_}

[vexx32]

You can do this with scriptblock binding syntax 🙂

$Values | Convert-Path -LiteralPath { $_ }

[schuelermine]

Oooh, wow, didn't know that! Thanks

[schuelermine]

Wait. Where is the documentation for this? I can't seem to get it to work.

@vexx32

[schuelermine]

Searching "scriptblock binding syntax" only leads to scriptblock documentation

[vexx32]

Documentation is here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_script_blocks?view=powershell-7#using-delay-bind-script-blocks-with-parameters

Yeah, it's a bit confusing that it's buried in the scriptblock article, but there's not really a much better place to put it, it's a general purpose syntax available to all commands.

If you can share the code you're running into issues with, I can try to point out what's going wrong. The important limitations with the scriptblock binding for parameters are:

1. It can't be used with [scriptblock]-type parameters
2. The parameter must be defined as accepting pipeline input either by value or by property name. You can check the Get-Help <command> -Parameter <parameter> results to see if a given parameter supports pipeline input.

about_Script_Blocks - PowerShell

[schuelermine]

Assuming I have a parameter that accepts any Object, if I want to pass a ScriptBlock, I can just write ({…}), right?

[schuelermine]

The issue I ran into is that this apparently requires specifying an explicit parameter. I was doing Get-PSDrive | Set-Location {"${_}:"} as an experiment. Get-PSDrive | Set-Location -Path {"${_}:"} worked.

[vexx32]

Ah yeah, it has to be a specific named parameter. I don't know the full implementation details but yeah, that's a hard requirement.

Also, [object] params will just accept a scriptblock as-is. They never invoke pipeline binding.

[thlac]

Probably not for your specific use case, but you can also construct the objects with property names, for example:
[pscustomobject]@{ LiteralPath= "c:\"} | Convert-Path

Does require the cmdlet supports ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName, but they typically do when they have distinct inputs with the same underlying type

[vexx32]

Yep! Very often (if not always) -LiteralPath parameters also support a PSPath alias both directly and on the property, because providers' objects in PS have a PSPath property that they'll use when piped into a provider cmdlet. 🙂