binaryout.ps1

function  binaryout {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
    Workaround for PowerShell processing the output of all external programs as strings

.DESCRIPTION
    PowerShell treats any output from an external program as string which should be
    split whenever it sees LF or CR LF. As a workround this calls the program with
    Start-Process and redirects standard output to a file - on completion the file
    is read and sent as a bytestream to the next process.
    Optionally the file can be named and retained - like a tee operation, and when
    this is done the output can be surpressed

.EXAMPLE
    binaryout curl.exe "https://jhoneill.github.io/assets/james.jpg" | Set-Content  -AsByteStream  -Path .\james.jpg

    Uses curl to get a jpg file and sends it to file - note that > is the equivalent of
    Set-content without -AsByteSteam and will cause the bytes to be treated as strings

.EXAMPLE
    binaryout curl.exe "https://jhoneill.github.io/assets/james.jpg" -teefile .\avatar.jpg -NoOutput

    if the only requirement is to get a file then using the tee option with no output will do that.
#>
    [cmdletbinding(PositionalBinding=$false,DefaultParameterSetName='MakeTmpFile')]
    param (
        #Filepath to pass to Start process (i.e. the command)
        [Parameter(Position=0)]
        [string]$FilePath,
        #If specified keeps the temporary file effectively doing a TEE
        [Parameter(ParameterSetName='UseTeeFile',Mandatory=$true)]
        [String]$TeeFile,
        #If specified with -TeeFile doesn't output the results
        [Parameter(ParameterSetName='UseTeeFile')]
        [switch]$NoOutput,
        #Arguments to pass to Start-Process - collects the rest of the command line
        [Parameter(ValueFromRemainingArguments)]
        $Argumentlist
    )
    process {
        if ($TeeFile) {$tempPath = $ExecutionContext.SessionState.Path.GetUnresolvedProviderPathFromPSPath( $TeeFile )}
        else          {$tempPath = [System.IO.Path]::GetTempFileName()}
        Start-Process -NoNewWindow -FilePath $FilePath -ArgumentList $Argumentlist -RedirectStandardOutput $temppath
        Write-Host    ""
        if (-not $NoOutput) {
            $tries = 0
            #The file can take a moment to close re-try at 1/10th sec intervals, give up after 10
            while ($tries -lt 10) {
                try { [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($temppath)
                    break
                    }
                catch {
                    $tries ++
                    Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 100
                }
            }
            if (-not $TeeFile) {Remove-Item $tempPath -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue}
        }
    }
}