As a long time Linux user, I’m very comfortable at the command prompt. While the Windows experience has benefitted greatly from the debut of Powershell, when I need to write tools I usually turn to a language I’m comfortable in – on Windows, that’s C#. And there’s nothing better for quickly churning out effective C# scripts than LINQPad.

LINQPad now provides a way to execute scripts directly from the terminal, called lprun, but it’s a bit difficult to call because 1) it’s not in your PATH by default and 2) the default program for executing .linq files is the interactive LINQPad editor (and rightly so). So what does it take to enable that sweet $ myscript.linq with args magic? I’m glad you asked…

Adding a file extension association

Here’s the first bit of bad news: we need a new extension. Yes, you can reset the .linq association to call lprun instead, but more than likely you want to keep its old behavior and open those files in the editor by default. So in this tutorial we’re going to create a new extension, .linqr, for LINQ Runner.

The first step is to create a script to test on. Mine is rather simple (don’t forget to set the language to C# Program):

void Main(string[] args)
{
	Console.WriteLine("Arguments: " + String.Join(", ", args));
}

Save that somewhere and give it the extension .linqr. You may need to rename the file in explorer as LINQPad doesn’t give you any option other than .linq when saving from its UI. The easiest way to set up the association is simply to go into the file properties and update the “Default Program”, but that’s only the first step. When you set up a file association in explorer, it ignores any additional arguments sent to it. While this will execute the script above, args will always be an empty array.

$ myscript.linqr hello world
Arguments: 

We have to dig into the registry to fix it. Open the application called ‘regedit’ and navigate to the folder HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.linqr. Inside, you’ll see an entry with the name (Default). Take the contents of the Data value and find the registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\<data> – in my case, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\linqr_auto_file. Dig all the way down into the command folder and you’ll see the Default data contains the path to your lprun.exe followed by "%1". That percent indicator refers to the first argument, your script name, with quotes around it in case your file has spaces in it. In order to add the remaining arguments, double click the (Default) area and add the following to the end of the line (including the leading space): ` %`. Make sure *not to put double quotes around this one because otherwise every additional argument would be rolled up into a single one. Now, when you execute the script with arguments they’ll be included:

$ myscript.linqr hello world
Arguments: hello, world

If you’re comfortable with .reg scripts, this one will do the above automatically. Make sure to modify the extension or path to lprun if you want to configure them.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\linqr_auto_file]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\linqr_auto_file\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\linqr_auto_file\shell\open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\linqr_auto_file\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\LINQPad5\\lprun.exe\" \"%1\" %*"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.linqr]
@="linqr_auto_file"

I’m a real executable!

It would be nice, in the interest of saving keystrokes, if we didn’t have to type the extension every time. EXEs get that treatment, why not our executable scripts? All it takes is modifying the PATHEXT environment variable to include our extension. These instructions are for Windows 7, but other versions will have similar steps (if not the exact same):

1. Right click “Computer” in the Start Menu and select “Properties”
2. Open the Advanced System Settings dialog
3. Click on the “Environment Variables” button.
4. There are two sections: one for user variables, one for system. Do not add a user variable for PATHEXT, otherwise it will replace your existing extensions (including taking away your ability to execute .EXE files, which you don’t want).
5. Add to the PATHEXT system environment variable the extension .LINQR (separated by a semicolon if need be).
6. Restart your terminal and run echo %PATHEXT%, it should display the list of extensions including linqr.
7. Try it out!

$ myscript hello world
Arguments: hello, world