Learn Azure CLI syntax differences in Bash, PowerShell and Cmd

Article
06/28/2024

Azure CLI commands can be executed in both Bash, PowerShell, and Windows command shell (Cmd) scripting languages. However, there are subtile scripting differences. In this tutorial step, learn how to create your first Azure Storage Account and format parameter values for all three scripting languages.

Prerequisites

You completed the prerequisites to prepare your environment.
You have access to a resource group with contributor or higher permissions at a resource group level.

Be aware of line continuation characters

Most Azure CLI documentation is written and tested in Bash using Azure Cloud Shell. One of the first things to remember when copying Azure CLI syntax is to verify the line continuation characters for your chosen scripting language as they aren't interchangeable.

scripting language	Line continuation character
Bash	Backslash (`\`)
PowerShell	Backtick (`)
Cmd	Carrot (`^`)

Tip

The Copy button in the upper right corner of Azure CLI code blocks removes the backslash (\) and the backtick (`) by design. If you want to copy a formatted code block, use your keyboard or mouse to select and copy the example.

Understand syntax differences when using variables

The syntax for using variables varies slightly between scripting languages. Here's a comparison:

Use case	Bash	PowerShell	Cmd
Create variable	variableName=varValue	$variableName="varValue"	set variableName=varValue
Use variable as parameter value	variableName	$variableName	%variableName%
Use variable in `--query` parameter	'$variableName'	'$variableName'	'$variableName'

There are several different ways to return variable information to your console screen, but echo works in most circumstances. Here's a comparison:

Bash: echo $varResourceGroup
PowerShell: echo $varResourceGroup
Cmd: echo %varResourceGroup%

In step three, Populate variables for use in scripts, you work through in-depth examples of variable syntax.

Learn about quoting differences between scripting languages

Every Azure CLI parameter is a string. However, each scripting language has its own rules for handling single and double quotes, spaces and parameter values.

String value	Azure CLI	PowerShell	Cmd
Text	'text' or "text"	'text' or "text"	"text"
Number	\`50\`	``50``	`50`
Boolean	\`true\`	``false``	'true'
Date	'2021-11-15'	'2021-11-15'	'2021-11-15'
JSON	'{"key":"value"}' or "{"key":"value"}"	'{"key": "value"}' or "{`"key`": `"value`"}" or "{""key"": ""value""}"	"{"key":"value"}"

Many Azure CLI parameters accept a space-separated list of values. This impacts quoting.

Unquoted space-separated list: --parameterName firstValue secondValue
Quoted space-separated list: --parameterName "firstValue" "secondValue"
Values that contain a space: --parameterName "value1a value1b" "value2a value2b" "value3"

If you aren't sure how your string will be evaluated by your scripting language, return the value of a string to your console or use --debug as explained in Debug Azure CLI reference commands.

Create a storage account to apply what you've learned

The remainder of this tutorial step demonstrates quoting rules in Azure CLI commands, and uses the resource group created in Prepare your environment for the Azure CLI. Substitute <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> with the name of your resource group.

Create an Azure storage account to use in this tutorial. This example assigns a random ID to the storage account name, but if you want to use a different name, see Storage account overview for storage account name rules.

Important

Before you can create a storage account, the Microsoft.Storage resource provider must be registered in your subscription. To learn about registering resource types, see Register resource provider.

This next script example demonstrates scripting language-specific syntax for the following:

Line continuation
Variable usage
Random identifiers
echo command

# Variable block
let "randomIdentifier=$RANDOM*$RANDOM"
location="eastus"
resourceGroup="<msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000>"
storageAccount="msdocssa$randomIdentifier"

# Create a storage account.
echo "Creating storage account $storageAccount in resource group $resourceGroup"
az storage account create --name $storageAccount \
                          --resource-group $resourceGroup \
                          --location $location \
                          --sku Standard_RAGRS \
                          --kind StorageV2 \
                          --output json

# Variable block
$randomIdentifier = (New-Guid).ToString().Substring(0,8)
$location="eastus"
$resourceGroup="<msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000>"
$storageAccount="msdocssa$randomIdentifier"

# Create a storage account.
echo "Creating storage account $storageAccount in resource group $resourceGroup"
az storage account create --name $storageAccount `
                          --resource-group $resourceGroup `
                          --location $location `
                          --sku Standard_RAGRS `
                          --kind StorageV2 `
                          --output json

:: Variable block
set randomIdentifier=%RANDOM%
set location="eastus"
set resourceGroup="<msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000>"
set storageAccount="msdocssa%randomIdentifier%"

:: Create a storage account.
echo "Creating storage account %storageAccount% in resource group %resourceGroup%"
az storage account create --name %storageAccount% ^
                          --resource-group %resourceGroup% ^
                          --location %location% ^
                          --sku Standard_RAGRS ^
                          --kind StorageV2 ^
                          --output json

Note

Did you just receive a "Subscription not found" error? This error occurs when Microsoft.Storage is not registered in the active subscription. To register a resource provider, see Azure resource providers and types.

The Azure CLI returns over 100 lines of JSON as output when a new storage account is created. The following JSON dictionary output has fields omitted for brevity.

{
"accessTier": "Hot",
"allowBlobPublicAccess": false,
"creationTime": "yyyy-mm-ddT19:14:26.962501+00:00",
"enableHttpsTrafficOnly": true,
"id": "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/ msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000/providers/Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/msdocssa00000000",
"keyCreationTime": {
  "key1": "yyyy-mm-ddT19:14:27.103127+00:00",
  "key2": "yyyy-mm-ddT19:14:27.103127+00:00"
},
"kind": "StorageV2",
"location": "eastus",
"name": "msdocssa00000000",
"primaryEndpoints": {
  "blob": "https://msdocssa00000000.blob.core.windows.net/"
},
"primaryLocation": "eastus",
"provisioningState": "Succeeded",
"resourceGroup": "msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000",
"sku": {
  "name": "Standard_RAGRS",
  "tier": "Standard"
},
"statusOfPrimary": "available",
"statusOfSecondary": "available",
"tags": {},
"type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts"
}

Create tags to practice quoting differences

Using az storage account update, add tags to help you identify your storage account and learn about quoting differences. These script examples demonstrate scripting language-specific syntax for the following:

Values containing spaces
Quoting blank spaces
Escaping special characters
Using variables

The --tags parameter accepts a space-separated list of key:value pairs. Substitute <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> with the name of your resource group and <msdocssa00000000> with the name of your Azure storage account.

# Create new tags. This syntax works with or without quotes around each key-value pair.
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> \
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> \
                          --tags Team=t1 Environment=e1

# Create new tags containing spaces. You must use quotes.
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> \
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> \
                          --tags "Floor number=f1" "Cost center=cc1"

# Create a new tag with an empty value.
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> \
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> \
                          --tags "Department="''""

# Create a new tag containing special characters resulting in "Path": "$G:\\myPath".
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> \
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> \
                          --tags "Path=\$G:\myPath"

# Create a tag from a variable.
newTag="tag1=tag value with spaces"
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> \
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> \
                          --tags "$newTag"

If you don't want to overwrite previous tags while you work through this tutorial step, use the az tag update command setting the --operation parameter to merge.

# Get the resource ID of your storage account.
saID=$(az resource show --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> \
                        --name <msdocssa00000000> \
                        --resource-type Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts \
                        --query "id" \
                        --output tsv)

echo My storage account ID is $saID

# Append new tags.
az tag update --resource-id $saID \
              --operation merge \
              --tags <tagName>=<tagValue>

# Get a list of all tags.
az tag list --resource-id $saID

# Create new tags. This syntax works with or without quotes around each key-value pair.
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> `
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> `
                          --tags Team=t1 Environment=e1


# Create new tags containing spaces. You must use quotes.
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> `
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> `
                          --tags "Floor number=f1" "Cost center=cc1"

# Create a new tag with an empty value.
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> `
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> `
                          --tags "Floor number="''""

# Create a new tag containing special characters resulting in "Path": "$G:\\myPath".
# Nate the backtick as both the line continuation and the PowerShell escape character.
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> `
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> `
                          --tags "Path=`$G:\myPath"

# Create a tag from a variable.
# In PowerShell, prefix your variable name with a dollar sign.
$newTag="tag1=tag value with spaces"
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> `
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> `
                          --tags "$newTag"

If you don't want to overwrite previous tags while you work through this tutorial step, use the az tag update command setting the --operation parameter to merge.

# Get the resource ID of your storage account.
$saID=$(az resource show --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> `
                         --name <msdocssa00000000> `
                         --resource-type Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts `
                         --query "id" `
                         --output tsv)

echo My storage account ID is $saID

# Append new tags.
az tag update --resource-id $saID `
              --operation merge `
              --tags <tagName>=<tagValue>

# Get a list of all tags.
az tag list --resource-id $saID

:: Create new tags. This syntax works with or without quotes around each key-value pair.
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> ^
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> ^
                          --tags Team=t1 Environment=e1

:: Create new tags containing spaces. You must use quotes.
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> ^
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> ^
                          --tags "Floor number=f1" "Cost center=cc1"

:: Create a new tag with an empty value.
az storage account update --name <msdocssa00000000> ^
                          --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> ^
                          --tags "Floor number="''""

If you need to modify an Azure resource using a variable, we suggest using Bash. Cmd often doesn't interpret variable values with special characters as expected. You often receive an "InvalidCharacters" error or your tag value is empty.

Compare more scripting language-specific scripts

Take a deeper look at these script differences. These examples demonstrate quoting differences for the following:

Pass a JSON string as a parameter value
Filter results with the --query parameter
- Numbers
- Boolean values
- Dates

Example of a parameter containing a JSON string. This script is given for future reference as we are not working with az rest in this tutorial.

az rest --method patch \
        --url https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<mySubscriptionID>/resourceGroups/<myResourceGroup>/providers/Microsoft.HybridCompute/machines/<machineName>?api-version=yyyy-mm-dd-preview \
        --resource https://management.azure.com/ \
        --headers Content-Type=application/json \
        --body '{"properties": {"agentUpgrade": {"enableAutomaticUpgrade": false}}}'

Example of filtering for a numeric value. Unless you have a VM in your current subscription, this example is given for future reference.

az vm list --resource-group <myResourceGroup> \
           --query "[?storageProfile.osDisk.diskSizeGb >=\`50\`].{Name:name, admin:osProfile.adminUsername, DiskSize:storageProfile.osDisk.diskSizeGb}" \
           --output table

Example of filtering a boolean value using the storage account created in this tutorial.

az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> \
    --query "[?allowBlobPublicAccess == \`true\`].id"

Examples of filtering a date using the storage account created in this tutorial.

# include time
az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> \
    --query "[?creationTime >='2021-11-15T19:14:27.103127+00:00'].{saName:name, saID: id, sku: sku.name}"

# exclude time
az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> \
    --query "[?creationTime >='2021-11-15'].{saName:name, saID: id, sku: sku.name}"

# subtract days and use a variable
saDate=$(date +%F -d "-30days")
az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> \
    --query "[?creationTime >='$saDate'].{saName:name, saID: id, sku: sku.name}"

Example of a parameter containing a JSON string. This script is given for future reference as we are not working with az rest in this tutorial.

az rest --method patch `
        --url https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<mySubscriptionID>/resourceGroups/<myResourceGroup>/providers/Microsoft.HybridCompute/machines/<machineName>?api-version=yyyy-mm-dd-preview `
        --resource https://management.azure.com/ `
        --headers Content-Type=application/json `
        --body '{\"properties\": {\"agentUpgrade\": {\"enableAutomaticUpgrade\": false}}}'

Example of filtering for a numeric value. Unless you have a VM in your current subscription, this example is given for future reference.

az vm list --resource-group <myResourceGroup> `
           --query "[?storageProfile.osDisk.diskSizeGb >=``50``].{Name:name, admin:osProfile.adminUsername, DiskSize:storageProfile.osDisk.diskSizeGb }" `
           --output table

Example of filtering a boolean value using the storage account created in this tutorial.

az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> `
                       --query "[?allowBlobPublicAccess == ``true``].id"

Examples of filtering a date using the storage account created in this tutorial.

# include time
az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> `
    --query "[?creationTime >='2021-11-15T19:14:27.103127+00:00'].{saName:name, saID: id, sku: sku.name}"

# exclude time
az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> `
    --query "[?creationTime >='2021-11-15'].{saName:name, saID: id, sku: sku.name}"

# subtract days and use a variable
$saDate=$saDate.AddDays(-30).tostring("yyyy-mm-dd")
az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> `
    --query "[?creationTime >='$saDate'].{saName:name, saID: id, sku: sku.name}"

Example of filtering for a numeric value. Unless you have a VM in your current subscription, this example is given for future reference.

az vm list --resource-group <myResourceGroup> `
           --query "[?storageProfile.osDisk.diskSizeGb >=`50`].{Name:name, admin:osProfile.adminUsername, DiskSize:storageProfile.osDisk.diskSizeGb }" `
           --output table

Example of filtering a boolean value using the storage account created in this tutorial.

az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> ^
    --query "[?allowBlobPublicAccess == `true`].id"

Examples of filtering a date using the storage account created in this tutorial.

# include time
az vm list --resource-group DevEx-Data-Analysis2 ^
           --query "[?storageProfile.osDisk.diskSizeGb >=`50`].{Name:name, admin:osProfile.adminUsername, DiskSize:storageProfile.osDisk.diskSizeGb }" ^
           --output table

az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> ^
    --query "[?creationTime >='2021-11-15T19:14:27.103127+00:00'].{saName:name, saID: id, sku: sku.name}"

# exclude time
az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> ^
    --query "[?creationTime >='2021-11-15'].{saName:name, saID: id, sku: sku.name}"

# subtract days and use a variable
saDate=$(date +%F -d "-30days")
az storage account list --resource-group <msdocs-tutorial-rg-00000000> ^
    --query "[?creationTime >='$saDate'].{saName:name, saID: id, sku: sku.name}"

Debug Azure CLI reference commands

Use `--debug` parameter

The Azure CLI offers a --debug parameter that can be used with any command. Debug output is extensive, but it gives you information including the following:

Command arguments (parameter values) as interpreted by your scripting language
Location of your log file
API call detail
Execution errors

If when working with Azure CLI commands you experience difficulty understanding and correcting an execution error, --debug is your answer to see the steps Azure CLI is executing.

Here is a small portion of the debug output when creating a storage account:

 cli.knack.cli: Command arguments: ['storage', 'account', 'create', '--name', 'msdocssa00000000', '--resource-group', 'msdocs-rg-test', '--location', 'eastus', '--sku', 'Standard_RAGRS', '--kind', 'StorageV2', '--output', 'json', '--debug']
 ...
 cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies: Request URL: 'https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/providers/Microsoft.Storage/checkNameAvailability?api-version=2023-01-01'
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies: Request method: 'POST'
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies: Request headers:
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies:     'Content-Type': 'application/json'
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies:     'Content-Length': '73'
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies:     'Accept': 'application/json'
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies:     'x-ms-client-request-id': '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000'
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies:     'CommandName': 'storage account create'
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies:     'ParameterSetName': '--name --resource-group --location --sku --kind --output --debug'
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies:     'User-Agent': 'AZURECLI/2.61.0 (DEB) azsdk-python-core/1.28.0 Python/3.11.8 (Linux-5.15.153.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2-x86_64-with-glibc2.35)'
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies:     'Authorization': '*****'
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies: Request body:
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies: {"name": "msdocssa00000000", "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts"}
urllib3.connectionpool: Starting new HTTPS connection (1): management.azure.com:443
urllib3.connectionpool: https://management.azure.com:443 "POST /subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/providers/Microsoft.Storage/checkNameAvailability?api-version=2023-01-01 HTTP/1.1" 200 22
cli.azure.cli.core.sdk.policies: Response status: 200
...

For more troubleshooting tips, see Troubleshooting Azure CLI.

Use `echo` command

Although --debug tells you exactly what the Azure CLI is interpreting, a second option is to return the value of an expression to your console. This method is helpful when verifying the results of --query that is covered in detail in Populate variables for use in scripts.

strExpression='{"key":"value"}'
echo $strExpression

{"key":"value"}

$strExpression='{"key":"value"}'
echo $strExpression

{"key":"value"}

Note

The Bash echo command when run in a PowerShell scripting language is an alias of PowerShell's Write-Host command.

In Cmd, the echo command returns the literal string including escape characters. Compare the --debug and echo output of Cmd:

CLI	Output
az "{"key":"value"}" --debug	Command arguments: ['{"key":"value"}', '--debug']
set strExpression='"{"key": "value"}"'
echo %strExpression%	"{\"key\": \"value\"}"

Troubleshooting

Here are common errors when an Azure CLI reference command syntax isn't written properly:

"Bad request ...{something} is invalid" might be caused by a space, single or double quotation mark, or lack of a quote.
"Unexpected token..." is seen when there's an extra space or quote.
"Invalid jmespath_type value" error often comes from incorrect quoting in the --query parameter.
"Variable reference is not valid" is received when a string isn't formatted properly often due to concatenation or a missing escape character.
"Unrecognized arguments" is often caused by an incorrect line continuation character.
"Missing expression after unary operator" is seen when a line continuation character is missing.

For additional troubleshooting tips, see Troubleshooting Azure CLI commands.

Get more details

Do you want more detail on one of the subjects covered in this tutorial step? Use the links in this table to learn more.

Subject	Learn more
Scripting differences	Quoting differences between scripting languages
	Bash quoting rules
	PowerShell quoting rules
	Considerations for running the Azure CLI in a PowerShell scripting language
	Windows command-line tips
Parameters	Use quotation marks in Azure CLI parameters
	Find more syntax examples of Bash, PowerShell and Cmd in Query command output using JMESPath
Troubleshooting	Troubleshooting Azure CLI commands

Next Step

Now that you learned how to write Azure CLI syntax for Bash, PowerShell and Cmd, proceed to the next step to learn how to extract values to a variable.

Populate variables for use in scripts

Share via

Learn Azure CLI syntax differences in Bash, PowerShell and Cmd

Prerequisites

Be aware of line continuation characters

Understand syntax differences when using variables

Learn about quoting differences between scripting languages

Create a storage account to apply what you've learned

Create tags to practice quoting differences

Compare more scripting language-specific scripts

Debug Azure CLI reference commands

Use `--debug` parameter

Use `echo` command

Troubleshooting

Get more details

Next Step

Additional resources

Share via

Learn Azure CLI syntax differences in Bash, PowerShell and Cmd

Prerequisites

Be aware of line continuation characters

Understand syntax differences when using variables

Learn about quoting differences between scripting languages

Create a storage account to apply what you've learned

Create tags to practice quoting differences

Compare more scripting language-specific scripts

Debug Azure CLI reference commands

Use --debug parameter

Use echo command

Troubleshooting

Get more details

Next Step

Additional resources

Use `--debug` parameter

Use `echo` command