Running curl via powershell - how to construct arguments?

Question

I'm trying to run curl to upload a file in my script, using batch was painful because I need to do string manipulation etc so I turned to powershell.

However I can't seem to get powershell to execute Curl:

$hash = "test"
$fileToUpload = "hello world.txt"
$user = "user"
$password = "passy"
curl --ftp-create-dirs -T $fileToUpload -u ${user}:${pass} ftp://example.com/$hash/$fileToUpload

This results in:

Invoke-WebRequest : Parameter cannot be processed because the parameter name 'T' is ambiguous. Possible matches include: 
-TimeoutSec -TransferEncoding.
At line:5 char:24
+ curl --ftp-create-dirs -T $fileToUpload -u ${user}:${pass} ftp://example.com/$ha ...
+                        ~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (:) [Invoke-WebRequest], ParameterBindingException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : AmbiguousParameter,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeWebRequestCommand

Curl.exe is in my PATH.

Answer 1

In PowerShell curl is a built in alias to Invoke-WebRequest cmdlet. And aliases have priority in command resolution. To solve your problem you have more specifically, use curl.exe instead of curl, so command not resolved to alias. Or you can remove alias Remove-Item alias:curl, but as it is build in alias you have to put this command in your profile, or invoke it in every session.

If you are not sure how PowerShell resolve your command, then you can use Get-Command cmdlet:

Get-Command curl
Get-Command curl.exe