Using object property with dot in If condition in PowerShell

Question

I am new to PowerShell from .Net world. I am trying to write some if statement like the blow

#1

if (((Get-Item $pf).Exist))
{
     $password = [xml]( Get-Content $pf)
}

#2

if (((Get-Item $pf) | Select-Object Exist))
{
     $password = [xml]( Get-Content $pf)
}

#3

$result=(Get-Item $pf).Exist
if($result)
{
     $password = [xml]( Get-Content $pf)
}

Questions: Both #2 and #3 will work as expected, however, I am also expecting #1 to work as in .Net, but it seems always evaluate to false, so the statement never get executed. I am a little confused here, can someone explain me why #1 is not working as what I would expect?

Andrew Savinykh · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-15 01:24:45Z

4

They are all wrong. It's Exists, not Exist.

Also I think you are up for disappointment, when you test your code when the file does NOT exist.

I think what you are looking for is

Test-Path $pf

answered Feb 15, 2013 at 1:24

Andrew Savinykh

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3 Comments

Frode F. Over a year ago

Since he wants to get the contents of the item, you could also verify that it is a file. It's as simple as including -PathType Leaf.

Jacky Yuan Over a year ago

Sorry, it's my typo, I means Exists actually, I used autocomplete in the console, but just typed this in the post by myself, so I missed the s at the end. I actually ended up using Test-Path to do my job. However, it's just my wish to understand better why the #1 doesn't work as expected, as clearly I am with some wrong assumption from .Net world.

Andrew Savinykh Over a year ago

@JackyYuan You've done more errors when you typed, and I have no way of telling which those are. "Both #2 and #3 will work as expected, however, I am also expecting #1 to work as in .Net, but it seems always evaluate to false". This is not the case with the examples you are given, when you change Exist to Exists. Simply speaking I cannot reproduce your results. It's really hard getting a question answered when you get the crucial part of the question wrong. I would advise to spend more time on getting the questions exactly right, before posting them.

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