PowerShell Return Codes
You can access/verify/check the success/failure return code of a Powershell commands via $? variable. The $? variable is of type Boolean. It will only give you a True or False states depending whether the last command ran successfully or failed respectively.
Checking PS commands return code:
Sample code:
$ret = Invoke-Item "C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Office Excel 2007.lnk" # Note the space in the path which is incorrect
Write-Host "$?"
$date = get-date -format MM:dd:yyyy-HH:mm:ss
Write-Host "$?"
Output:
Invoke-Item : Cannot find path ‘C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Office Excel 2007.lnk’ because it does not e
xist.
At C:\temp\test-ps-return-codes.ps1:2 char:19
+ $ret = Invoke-Item <<<< "C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Office Excel 2007.lnk"
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Program Data… Excel 2007.lnk:String) [Invoke-Item], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeItemCommand
False
True
Making use of $? return code:
Sample code:
$ret = Invoke-Item "C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Office Excel 2007.lnk" # Note the space in the path which is incorrect
if($?) {
Write-Host "Successfully Invoked Excel 2007"
} else {
Write-Host "Failed to Invoke Excel 2007"
}
Output:
Invoke-Item : Cannot find path ‘C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Office Excel 2007.lnk’ because it does not e
xist.
At C:\temp\test-ps-return-codes.ps1:2 char:19
+ $ret = Invoke-Item <<<< "C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Office Excel 2007.lnk"
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Program Data… Excel 2007.lnk:String) [Invoke-Item], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeItemCommand
Failed to Invoke Excel 2007
