I hope this is a simple question. I have a Powershell function that operates on all files in a given folder. There are times when I would like to have the function operate on a single folder and times when I would like it to operate on several folders, the paths of which are stored in an array. Is there a way to have one function be able to accept both a single element and an array?
Do-Stuff $aSingleFolder
Do-Stuff $anArrayofFolders
You can also run the process section within the function. It would look like this:
Function Do-Stuff {
param(
[Parameter( `
Mandatory=$True, `
Valuefrompipeline = $true)]
[String]$Folders
)
begin {
#Things to do only once, before processing
} #End Begin
Process {
#What you want to do with each item in $Folders
} #End Process
end {
#Things to do at the end of the function, after all processes are done
}#End end
} #End Function Do-Stuff
Then when you call the Function. Do it like this
$Folders | Do-Stuff
Here is what will happen. Everything in the Begin block will run first. Then, for each item in the $Folders variable, everything in the Process block will run. After it completes that, it will run what is in the End block. This way you can pipe as many folders as you want into your function. This is really helpful if you want to add additional parameters to this function some day.
[String]$Folders, this function will only work for multiple values passed through the pipeline. If you change the parameter declaration to [string[]]$Folders, then you can foreach( $f in $Folders ) in the process block and it will work for Do-Stuff <one folder>, Do-Stuff <multiple>, <folders>, and <multiple>, <folders> | Do-Stuff. (Oh, and the backticks are unnecessary: open brackets and parenthesis count as continuations :)[string[]]$folders. I look forward to using that at work :) Have a great day!In Powershell, you can iterate over an array and a single element in a uniform manner:
function Do-Stuff($folders) {
foreach($f in $folders) {
//do something with $f
}
}
Passing a single element will cause the foreach to be executed once with the given item.
Do-Stuff "folder"
Do-Stuff "folder1", "folder2",...
This works without cmd.exe and using files:
function Invoke-PlinkCommandsIOS {
param (
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string] $Host,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][System.Management.Automation.PSCredential] $Credential,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string] $Commands,
[Switch] $ConnectOnceToAcceptHostKey = $false
)
$PlinkPath="$PSScriptRoot\plink.exe"
$commands | & "$PSScriptRoot\plink.exe" -ssh -2 -l $Credential.GetNetworkCredential().username -pw "$($Credential.GetNetworkCredential().password)" $Host -batch
}
Usage: dont forget your exit's and terminal length 0 or it will hang
PS C:\> $Command = "terminal lenght 0
>> show running-config
>> exit
>> "
>>
PS C:\> Invoke-PlinkCommandsIOS -Host ace-dc1 -Credential $cred -Commands $Command
....
