[FIXED] What is the equivalent of the Bash ` (backquote/backtick) in Windows PowerShell?

Issue

I need the result of a command to be taken as a parameter in another command.

command /opt <another command output>

On Bash Linux I would do

command /opt `another command`

What is the equivalent of the ` symbol that works in Windows Terminal?

In particular, I am using the command

'C:\Program Files\Display\display64.exe' /listdevices | findstr 22MP55 | %{$_ -replace "- .*",""}

where findstr is the windows equivalent to grep and the final command in the pipe is the equivalent to sed. The output of this command will be 1, 2 or 3, and I need this to be passed to the %HERE in the following line

'C:\Program Files\Display\display64.exe' /device %HERE /rotate 90

The following minimal example, does not work:

FOR /F %a in ('"C:\Program Files\Display\display64.exe"  /listdevices | findstr 22MP55 | %{$_ -replace "- .*",""}') do echo "%a"

What I am doing wrong? (I am new in Windows).

Solution

Use (...), the grouping operator to pass output from a command as an argument to another command:

'C:\Program Files\Display\display64.exe' /device (
  'C:\Program Files\Display\display64.exe' /listdevices | findstr 22MP55 | %{$_ -replace "- .*",""}
) /rotate 90

Note: $(...), the subexpression operator, works too, but (...) is usually sufficient and has no side effects; you only need $(...) for multiple (;-separated) statements - see this answer for details.

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As for what you tried:

• In POSIX-compatible shells such as Bash, `...` is the legacy form of a command substitution whose modern syntax is $(...) - while PowerShell supports $(...) too, (...) is usually preferable, as noted.

• In PowerShell, ` serves as the escape character (only), analogous to \ in POSIX-compatible shells - see the conceptual about_Special_Characters help topic.

• Your attempts to use FOR /F %a in ... and %HERE (which should be %HERE%) relate to the legacy cmd.exe shell on Windows, not to its successor, PowerShell, whose syntax differs fundamentally.

Answered By - mklement0

Answer Checked By - Dawn Plyler (PHPFixing Volunteer)