Using pipes in comment executed using Plink from PowerShell - shell

Question

In PowerShell, I use Plink to ssh on to a NetScaler device.
Everything works fine, but it takes a very long time to run the script because of the amount of data downloaded from the remote device to the local machine, where I'm running PowerShell.
Here is the script:
$log = C:\plink.exe -batch -l User -pw PWD 10.1.1.1 "shell "zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz""
To improve the performance, I need to reduce the amount of data transferred from the device.
All I need is just the first part of the domain \w+\ so I tried to add | cut –d . –f 1 but I get this:
cut : The term 'cut' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:144
+ ... hell "zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f ...
+ ~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (cut:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
I’ve tried different ways to escape the | and trired putting the command into a variable or in to a file and using the –m switch.
Everything comes out with the same result.
The cut command works fine, when I use PuTTY to ssh to the device.
Is this problem with PowerShell, Plink or both? Can I use the cut command without a pipe? Or is there another way to return just the \w+\ part?
Here's the output from various attempts to get the cut working (not allowed to upload screenshots from work)
PS C:\windows\system32> C:\NetScalerBackup\plink.exe -batch -l $un -pw $pwd $PrimaryNS shell "zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f1"
Done
^^^
ERROR: No such command
C:\NetScalerBackup\plink.exe : ERROR: No such command
At line:1 char:1
+ C:\NetScalerBackup\plink.exe -batch -l $un -pw $pwd $PrimaryNS shell ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (ERROR: No such command:String) [], RemoteException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError
PS C:\windows\system32> C:\NetScalerBackup\plink.exe -batch -l $un -pw $pwd $PrimaryNS "shell `"zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f1`""
Done
^^^
ERROR: No such command
C:\NetScalerBackup\plink.exe : ERROR: No such command
At line:1 char:1
+ C:\NetScalerBackup\plink.exe -batch -l $un -pw $pwd $PrimaryNS "shell ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (ERROR: No such command:String) [], RemoteException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : NativeCommandError
PS C:\windows\system32> C:\NetScalerBackup\plink.exe -batch -l $un -pw $pwd $PrimaryNS shell zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f1
cut : The term 'cut' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At line:1 char:122
+ ... shell zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f ...
+ ~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (cut:String) [], CommandNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException
Update
#Martin:
when I try
"shell `"zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f1`"`nexit`n" | C:\NetScalerBackup\plink.exe -batch -l $un -pw $pwd $PrimaryNS
I get:
shell "zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f1"
exit
Done
> shell "zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f1"
grep: unknown directories method
ERROR:
> exit
Bye!
If I take out the back-tick Quotes (`")
"shell zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f1`nexit`n" | C:\NetScalerBackup\plink.exe -batch -l $un -pw $pwd $PrimaryNS
This is the response:
Done
> shell zgrep -oE '\w+\.aramco\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f1
^^^
ERROR: No such command
> exit
Bye!

Answer 1

The outer quotes are not needed by Plink and just complicate parsing. This should work:
$log = C:\plink.exe -batch -l User -pw PWD 10.1.1.1 shell "zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f"
If you want to keep the outer quotes, you have escape the inner quotes:
$log = C:\plink.exe -batch -l User -pw PWD 10.1.1.1 "shell `"zgrep -oE '\w+\.some\.com' /var/log/ns.log.0.gz | cut -d . -f`""