Creating a raw transaction using Bitcoin Core v0.10.0 bitcoin-tx / createrawtransaction

Question

I'm trying to create a raw transaction using Bitcoin Core v0.10.0 (on Windows 7 x64, and with txindex=1 optioned).

Bitcoin Core v0.10.0 comes with a new Bitcoin-tx executable utility. The help menu is as follows (under Windows 7 x64):

Bitcoin Core bitcoin-tx utility version v0.10.0

Usage:
  bitcoin-tx [options] <hex-tx> [commands]  Update hex-encoded bitcoin transaction
  bitcoin-tx [options] -create [commands]   Create hex-encoded bitcoin transaction

Options:
  -?                      This help message
  -create                 Create new, empty TX.
  -json                   Select JSON output
  -txid                   Output only the hex-encoded transaction id of the resultant transaction.
  -regtest                Enter regression test mode, which uses a special chain in which blocks can be solved instantly.
  -testnet                Use the test network

Commands:
  delin=N                Delete input N from TX
  delout=N               Delete output N from TX
  in=TXID:VOUT           Add input to TX
  locktime=N             Set TX lock time to N
  nversion=N             Set TX version to N
  outaddr=VALUE:ADDRESS  Add address-based output to TX
  outscript=VALUE:SCRIPT Add raw script output to TX
  sign=SIGHASH-FLAGS     Add zero or more signatures to transaction
      This command requires JSON registers:
      prevtxs=JSON object
      privatekeys=JSON object
      See signrawtransaction docs for format of sighash flags, JSON objects.

Register Commands:
  load=NAME:FILENAME     Load JSON file FILENAME into register NAME
  set=NAME:JSON-STRING   Set register NAME to given JSON-STRING

Using Windows CLI, I'm running into issues with createrawtransaction as it's not parsing the command the same as it does in the Bitcoin-QT console window.

bitcoin-cli createrawtransaction [{"txid":"dbdc2e2c7f143af70c5e7e8725f55d226b3c058d7bf34a303091b3c6a514848c","vout":1}] {"1BCi1L25GC9hUSvtSyGjmEvSyywoYubk4P":0.00011}

Gives error: Error parsing JSON:[{txid:dbdc2e2c7f143af70c5e7e8725f55d226b3c058d7bf34a303091b3c6a514848c,vout:1}]

Likewise, the bitcoin-tx utility won't work with this:

bitcoin-tx.exe -create in=dbdc2e2c7f143af70c5e7e8725f55d226b3c058d7bf34a303091b3c6a514848c:1 locktime=0 nversion=1 outaddr=2000:1BCi1L25GC9hUSvtSyGjmEvSyywoYubk4P outscript=0:687474703a2f2f676f6f2e676c2f7869556243555

How can I create a raw transaction using Bitcoin-cli and bitcoin-tx?

Answer 1

For the first command, you need to include the JSON in single quotes, like so:

$ bitcoin-cli createrawtransaction '[{"txid":"dbdc2e2c7f143af70c5e7e8725f55d226b3c058d7bf34a303091b3c6a514848c","vout":1}]' '{"1BCi1L25GC9hUSvtSyGjmEvSyywoYubk4P":0.00011}'
01000000018c8414a5c6b39130304af37b8d053c6b225df525877e5e0cf73a147f2c2edcdb0100000000ffffffff01f82a0000000000001976a9146fe8102ebe0fccb56de43ec82601ba16c68496af88ac00000000

The bitcoin-tx utility uses a shorthand that is deployed in the bitcoin unit tests. This example might help you use this command:

$ ./bitcoin-tx -create in=0fb9df5614be8b33be0434ce4062750d83f1b7ce05cc1296604f82eb9abf802b:0 outscript=0.00159999:"DUP HASH160 0x14 0x6793a38f79b8cd51dbb6face6dc75a4af5c1bf29 EQUALVERIFY CHECKSIG"
01000000012b80bf9aeb824f609612cc05ceb7f1830d756240ce3404be338bbe1456dfb90f0000000000ffffffff01ff700200000000001976a9146793a38f79b8cd51dbb6face6dc75a4af5c1bf2988ac00000000

The code for parsing the scripts can be found here. However, I find just looking at some examples in the unit test data to be helpful as well.