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C# run process with multiple spaces in arguments

I'm trying to start a process which contains multiple spaces within the arguments. The arguments that are passed are dynamically built. For example:
// These three strings will be built dynamically
string consolePath = "C:\\My Path\\nunit3-console.exe"
string dll = "C:\\My Path\\My.Test.dll"
string where = "--where \"test == My.Test.Example \""
string cmdText = $" \"{consolePath }\" \"{dll}\" {where}";
//cmdText = "\"C:\\My Path\\nunit3-console.exe\" \"C:\\My Path\\My.Test.dll\" --where \"test == My.Test.Example \""
var processInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", $"/c {cmdText}");
processInfo.CreateNoWindow = false;
Process process = Process.Start(processInfo);
process.WaitForExit();
process.Close();
This does not work as any text beyond the first space will be ignored. I will get a message such as 'C:\My' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.
I tried adding parentheses around the arguments, as noted here, but it didn't work. What is the correct way to do this?

You probably have to add a further double-quote around anything that may include spaces within one single argument. Usually a space means the end of an argument. So to preserve this, you´d have to put the string into double-quotes.
So consolePath should actually be this:
var consolePath = "\"C:\\My Path....exe\"";

In addition to previous answer, # could be used to avoid \\ like this:
#"""C:\My Path\nunit3-console.exe"""
or:
"\"" + #"C:\My Path\nunit3-console.exe" + "\""
More about # here:
What's the # in front of a string in C#?

After searching two days for working string I finally found it.
Just wrap string like this:
string Arguments = "/c ""path" --argument "";
string Arguments = "/c \""path" --argument \"";
Notice bold quotes from first string.

Add \ to a string with quotes in c#

I need to add a '\' to a string
I try this
var Filename = name.Replace("'", "\'");
name = Filename ;
if name = he's here
name.Replace("'", "\'") will return : "he\\'s here"
what I need is: he\'s here

First name.Replace("'", "\'") does nothing because "'" == "\'". So name.Replace("'", "\'") returns "he's here" (you can try it in https://dotnetfiddle.net/). What you want is: name.Replace("'", "\\'")
Second if you inspect name in the debugger (in watch window or immediate window) you will get "he\\'s here" because that is how you should write a string constant in c# to get he\'s here into a variable.

Path format is illegal

I want to ask about a easy question , but I faced a problem.
I want to get the time when the program is executed
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.Now);
And I want to output a .log file , the file name will have program execution time
String path2 = "C:\\temp"+DateTime.Now+".log";
StreamWriter path = File.CreateText(path2);
path.WriteLine(DateTime.Now);
But it is telling me Path format is illegal.
And I want ask another question
string a12 = aaa.Element("a12").tostring();
String path2 = "C:\\temp" + a12.ToString + ".log";
But it tell me "Path format is illegal"
How can I resolve it?
Thanks

That's because DateTime.Now converted to string by default contains time information (e.g. 8:53). Semicolon is illegal in path name.
If you meant only date to be in your file name, you could use:
String path2 = "C:\\temp" + DateTime.Now.ToString("d") + ".log";
(Edit) For some cultures this still can lead to invalid values, so as others pointed out, it is best to use explicit formatter:
String path2 = "C:\\temp" + DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd") + ".log";

You want to escape your \ in the "" quoted string, and also there are characters in the result of DateTime.Now that cannot be in paths. You'll need to escape/replace those as well.

When you put DateTime.Now into a path, you risk adding characters that aren't valid as a path (like the : separator. That is the reason you get this error message.
You could replace it with a .:
string path2 = Path.Combine
( #"C:\temp\"
, DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd.HH24.mm.ss")
, ".log"
);

DateTime.Now probably contains illegal characters depending on your local system settings. To get a valid and consistent file name independent on the culture the system is installed in you should create the log file name by hand, for instance like this:
String path2 = "C:\\temp" + DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss") + ".log";

String path2 = String.Format("C:\\temp{0}.log", DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd"));
Since filename cannot take "/" which was created by DateTime.Now.ToString("d") and hence creating issue.

command line using string.Format() to handle escape characters

Thank for reading my thread.
Here is the command line I like to call within my C# code:
C:\>"D:\fiji-win64\Fiji.app\ImageJ-win64.exe" -eval "run('Bio-Formats','open=D:\\Output\\Untitiled032\\ChanA_0001_0001_0001_0001.tif display_ome-xml')"
This is the exact command I can see from my console window, and it runs and gives me what I need. I want to run this command line from from my C# code, so there is escape character problem I don;t know how to handle
There are two strings I'd like to make them flexible
D:\fiji-win64\Fiji.app\ImageJ-win64.exe
D:\Output\Untitiled032\ChanA_0001_0001_0001_0001.tif
I am wondering how I can use string.Format() to formulate this command line?
This is my current code, it opens the image, but the display_ome-xml did not get called:
string bioformats = "Bio-Formats";
string options = string.Format("open={0} display_ome-xml", fileName.Replace("\\", "\\\\"));
string runCommand = string.Format("run(\"'{0}'\",\"'{1}'\")", bioformats, options);
string fijiCmdText = string.Format("/C \"\"{0}\" -eval {1}", fijiExeFile, runCommand);
where fijiExeFile works fins, it is just the runCommand keeps ignoring the display_ome-xml. Anyone has any suggestions? It is really really confusing. Thanks a lot.

As #Kristian pointed out, # can help here. It also appears that there may be some extra or misplaced \" in the code above. This seems to give the desired output string:
string fijiExeFile = #"D:\fiji-win64\Fiji.app\ImageJ-win64.exe";
string fileName = #"D:\\Output\\Untitiled032\\ChanA_0001_0001_0001_0001.tif";
string bioformats = "Bio-Formats";
string options = string.Format("open={0} display_ome-xml", fileName);
string runCommand = string.Format("run('{0}','{1}')", bioformats, options);
string fijiCmdText = string.Format("\"{0}\" -eval \"{1}\"", fijiExeFile, runCommand);

The easiest way is to use the verbatim string literal.
Just put a # before your string like so:
#"c:\abcd\efgh"
This will disable the backslash escape character
If you need " inside your string, you will have to escape the the quotation marks like so:
#"c:\abcd\efgh.exe ""param1"""
Your example could be:
String.Format(#"""{0}"" -eval ""run('Bio-Formats','open={1} display_ome-xml')""", #"D:\fiji-win64\Fiji.app\ImageJ-win64.exe", #"D:\Output\Untitiled032\ChanA_0001_0001_0001_0001.tif")
or
string p1 = "D:\\fiji-win64\\Fiji.app\\ImageJ-win64.exe";
string p2 = "D:\\Output\\Untitiled032\\ChanA_0001_0001_0001_0001.tif";
String.Format(#"""{0}"" -eval ""run('Bio-Formats','open={1} display_ome-xml')""", p1, p2);

C# Format String with double quotes around directories with spaces

I am trying to use a String.Format to create the following string
2MSFX.exe "C:\Users\Avidan\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\DefferedRenderer\DummyGame\DummyGameContent\Shaders\Clear.fx" "C:\Users\Avidan\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\DefferedRenderer\DummyGame\DummyGameContent\Shaders\Clear.mxfb"
so i am trying to use String.Format, but i just can't seen to get my head around it for some reason :|
The code is (where last 2 params are String.Empty):
String outputFile = Path.Combine(destDir, Path.ChangeExtension(Path.GetFileName(fxFile), "mgxf"));
String command = String.Format("\"{0}\" \"{1}\" \"{2}\" \"{3}\"", Path.GetFullPath(fxFile), Path.GetFullPath(outputFile), DX11Support, DebugSupport);
var proc = new Process
{
StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
{
FileName = MGFXApp,
Arguments = command,
UseShellExecute = false,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
CreateNoWindow = true
}
};
But that appears to be giving me
\"C:\Users\Avidan\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\DefferedRenderer\DummyGame\DummyGameContent\Shaders\ClearGBuffer.fx\" \"C:\Users\Avidan\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\DefferedRenderer\DummyGame\DummyGameContent\Shaders\MGFX\ClearGBuffer.mgxf\" \"\" \"\"
If i use the verbatim string i can't get it to create the string i want.
Any Ideas?
Thanks.

Update
You should use String.Concat().
String.Concat("\"", Path.GetFullPath(fxFile), "\" " , Path.GetFullPath(outputFile), "\" " DX11Support,"\" " ,DebugSupport, "\"")

For a simple case like this, I wouldn't think it necessary, but you could create an extension method to automatically put quotes around the strings.
public static class StringExtensions
{
public static string Quotify(this string s)
{
return string.Format("\"{0}\"", s);
}
}
Then your command format looks like this:
String command = String.Join(" ",
Path.GetFullPath(fxFile).Quotify(),
Path.GetFullPath(outputFile).Quotify(),
DX11Support.Quotify(), DebugSupport.Quotify());

You need to use a combination of the # literal to avoid '\' squirlyness, and ""'s to make "'s
This example works for me:
string s = #"""C:\Test Dir\file.fx"" ""C:\Test Dir\SubDir\input.dat""";
Console.WriteLine(s);
Console output looks like this:
"C:\Test Dir\file.fx" "C:\Test Dir\SubDir\input.dat"
Just remember that two quotes makes a single quote, so the triple quote at the beginning and end of the string are the quote to start the string definition, and then a double quote to make a quote. Possibly one of the more confusing string formats out there, but that's how it works.