This is very helpful when you need to validate the last operation if it has information (values), in other words, if the last command was successfully.
For example, I want to validate if a folder exists in my computer:
PS C:\> $Folder = Get-ChildItem -Path c:\temp
if($?)
{
Write-Host “The folder Temp already exists” -ForegroundColor Yellow
}
else
{
Write-Host “The folder Temp does not exists” -ForegroundColor Yellow
}
The folder Temp already exists
PS C:\>
Let’s give it a try with a folder that doesn’t exist
PS C:\> $Folder = Get-ChildItem -Path c:\temp\NewOne
if($?)
{
Write-Host “The folder Temp already exists” -ForegroundColor Yellow
}
else
{
Write-Host “The folder Temp does not exists” -ForegroundColor Yellow
}
Get-ChildItem : Cannot find path ‘C:\temp\NewOne’ because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:11
+ $Folder = Get-ChildItem -Path c:\temp\NewOne
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\temp\NewOne:String) [Get-Chil
dItem], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChi
ldItemCommand
The folder Temp does not exists
PS C:\>
Yo can use !$?also, just change the order in the if-else. I mean first the validation if the result will be false, it’s easier if we see this example:
PS C:\> $Folder = Get-ChildItem -Path c:\temp
if(!$?)
{
Write-Host “The folder Temp does not exists” -ForegroundColor Yellow
}
else
{
Write-Host “The folder Temp already exists” -ForegroundColor Yellow
}
The folder Temp already exists
PS C:\>
Now let’s try with a folder that does not exist
PS C:\> $Folder = Get-ChildItem -Path c:\temp\NewOne
if(!$?)
{
Write-Host “The folder Temp does not exists” -ForegroundColor Yellow
}
else
{
Write-Host “The folder Temp already exists” -ForegroundColor Yellow
}
Get-ChildItem : Cannot find path ‘C:\temp\NewOne’ because it does not exist.
At line:1 char:11
+ $Folder = Get-ChildItem -Path c:\temp\NewOne
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\temp\NewOne:String) [Get-Chil
dItem], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChi
ldItemCommand
The folder Temp does not exists
PS C:\>
Thanks for reading
Tony Gonzalez 