Powershell Script error: "Missing expression after unary operator '-'.

Question

_{Saturday, June 16, 2012 10:52 PM}

Hello Community

    I created an Install-Sharepoint.ps1 based on Microsofts example and it works.

    Next I created a New-SharePointFarm.ps1 based on Microsofts example but it
fails  as soon as it gets to around line 9 which is "-DatabaseAccessAccount ...".  So I commented out that line to see if the next line would run which is "-DatabaseServer ...".   That means even though it does just what the Microsoft example does around Line 9 the script fails with the same error message which is:

"Missing expression after unary operator '-'.
c:\SPModule.setup\New-SharePointFarm.ps1 :11 char:6
 -<<<< DatabaseAccessAccount (Get-credential <username>\password>
    + CategoryInfo                      :ParseError: (-String) [], ParseException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorID           :MissingExpressionAfterOperator"

    Below is the abbreviated script why  does it fail at around line 9 ?
  
    1 - Write-Host “Loading SharePoint 2010 PowerShell cmdlets”
    2 - Add-PsSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell

    3 - $username = "<username>"
    4 - $password = "xxxxxxxx"
    5 - $DAACred = New-Object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential-argumentlist $username, $password
 
    6 - $CtlPswd = ConvertTo-SecureString "xxxxxxxx" -AsPlainText -Force
    7 - $CtlCred = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential("<username>", $CtlPswd)
8 - New-SharePointFarm
9 -     -DatabaseAccessAccount (get-credential "<username>\password)
    -DatabaseServer "<servername>\Server1"
    -DatabaseName "Sharepoint_ConfigDb
    -AdministrationContentDatabase "WSS_ConfigContent"
    -Port 10000 -AdminAuthMethod  NTLM -Paraphrase "xxxxxxxx"
    -FarmCredentials -Credential $CtlCred
 
    -FarmName TestFarm

    Install-SPHelpCollection -All
    Initialize-SPResourceSecurity
    Install-SPService
    Install-SPFeature -AllExistingFeatures
    New-SPCentralAdministration -Port 10001 -WindowsAuthProvider "NTLM"
    Install-SPApplicationContent
 
    param
    (   
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][ValidateNotNull()]
        [System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]$DatabaseAccessAccount,
       
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [String]$DatabaseServer,
       
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)][ValidateScript({$_.Length -ne 0})]
        [System.Security.SecureString]$Passphrase,
       
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)][ValidateRange(1024, 65535)]
        [int]$Port = "10000",
       
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)][ValidateSet("NTLM", "Kerberos")]
        [String]$AdminAuthMethod = "NTLM",
       
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)][ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [String]$FarmName = $env:COMPUTERNAME
    )

    Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -ErrorAction "SilentlyContinue" | Out-Null

    etc. etc. etc.

    If the above portion of the script shows enough to explain, why does the script
produce this error?

    Thank you
    Shabeaut

All replies (5)

_{Sunday, June 17, 2012 2:18 AM ✅Answered}

I see a couple of potential issues:

1. line 9, along with the immediately following lines, seems to be a continuation of line 8. if so, the preceding line should end with a backtick.
2. there seems to be an unmatched double quote in line 9.

Al Dunbar

_{Sunday, June 17, 2012 6:09 AM ✅Answered}

Line 5:

$DAACred = New-Object -typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential-argumentlist $username, $password

There should be a space before -argumentlist

Grant Ward, a.k.a. Bigteddy

_{Monday, June 18, 2012 1:10 AM ✅Answered | 1 vote}

the -credential argument of the get-credential cmdlet only needs quoting if it contains a blank character. These are all equivalent and all equally valid:

   $A = Get-Credential  domain\billy
   $A = Get-Credential  'domain\billy'
   $A = Get-Credential  "domain\billy"

But note that get-credential does not accept a password in its -credential parameter. The password is entered by the user when the get-credential command is executed.

Al Dunbar

_{Sunday, June 17, 2012 9:21 PM}

Hello Al Dunbar

    The code that I included in this post was a sample of the actual code.  From
now on I will cut and past the code from the actual script.

    But you comments were very interesting when I think about the actual code.

    In the actual code line 9 is a parameter to line 8 and so are the continuing
lines as you say. 

    Being new to Powershell I didn't know that you had to let Powershell know
that the next line needed to be continued so for each parameter I will now use
the "backtick" as you say.

    The other thing is I didn't know whether the argument after the (Get-Credential)
parameter had to be in double quotes or not.  What I was trying to do was pass
the username and password to Get-Credential.

    I will check the actual code and make sure there is a space before the
argumentlist.

    Thank you
    Shabeaut

_{Sunday, June 17, 2012 9:21 PM}

Hello Bigteddy

    The code that I included in this post was a sample of the actual code.  From
now on I will cut and past the code from the actual script.

    But you comments were very interesting when I think about the actual code.

    In the actual code line 9 is a parameter to line 8 and so are the continuing
lines as you say. 

    Being new to Powershell I didn't know that you had to let Powershell know
that the next line needed to be continued so for each parameter I will now use
the "backtick" as you say.

    The other thing is I didn't know whether the argument after the (Get-Credential)
parameter had to be in double quotes or not.  What I was trying to do was pass
the username and password to Get-Credential.

    I will check the actual code and make sure there is a space before the
argumentlist.

    Thank you
    Shabeaut