How can I get powershell exception descriptions into a string?

Question

I want to have access to the same message that Powershell prints when you send an error record to the output stream

Example:

This is the exception message At C:\Documents and Settings\BillBillington\Desktop\psTest\exThrower.ps1:1 char:6

throw <<<< (New-Object ArgumentException("This is the exception"));

CategoryInfo : OperationStopped: (:) [], ArgumentException

FullyQualifiedErrorId : This is the exception

I when a get the last ErrorRecord by doing $Error[0] I can't seem to figure out how to get this information in a simple way

I found this 'Resolve-Error' function from the community extensions here which does roughly what I want but it prints a huge semi-formatted list of stuff I don't need that I have to then strip

Is there way of accessing the message that Powershell uses or failing that a simpler way of getting hash of the values I care about so I can put them into a string in a format of my choosing?

tomasr · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-04 12:47:05Z

27

How about:

$x = ($error[0] | out-string)

Is that what you wanted?

answered Aug 4, 2010 at 12:47

tomasr

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Roman Kuzmin · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-04 13:13:27Z

21

If you want a bit shorter message (more user friendly sometimes?) than @tomasr suggests this will do:

$error[0].ToString() + $error[0].InvocationInfo.PositionMessage

You will get something like:

Cannot find path 'C:\TEMP\_100804_135716\missing' because it does not exist.
At C:\TEMP\_100804_135716\test.ps1:5 char:15
+   Get-ChildItem <<<<  missing

This technical info will be excluded:

+ CategoryInfo          : ObjectNotFound: (C:\TEMP\_100804_135716\missing:String) [Get-ChildItem], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand

answered Aug 4, 2010 at 13:13

Roman Kuzmin

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Kent · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-18 16:58:45Z

7

I took it a bit further because I didn't like the multilines from $error[0].InvocationInfo.PositionMessage.

Function FriendlyErrorString ($thisError) {
    [string] $Return = $thisError.Exception
    $Return += "`r`n"
    $Return += "At line:" + $thisError.InvocationInfo.ScriptLineNumber
    $Return += " char:" + $thisError.InvocationInfo.OffsetInLine
    $Return += " For: " + $thisError.InvocationInfo.Line
    Return $Return
}

[string] $ErrorString = FriendlyErrorString $Error[0]
$ErrorString

You can look at what else is availible to construct your own String via:

$Error | Get-Member
$Error[0].InvocationInfo | Get-Member

answered Jun 18, 2013 at 16:58

Kent

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1 Comment

MicroservicesOnDDD Jun 7 at 16:06

An example of your abbreviated output format would be nice to help others see if it's what they want. Might improve your upvotes too...

Mister Smith · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-17 13:17:29Z

1

Foreach ($Errors in $Error){
  #Log Eintrag wird zusammengesetzt und in errorlog.txt geschrieben
  "[$Date] $($Errors.CategoryInfo.Category) $($Errors.CategoryInfo.Activity) $($Errors.CategoryInfo.Reason) $($Errors.CategoryInfo.TargetName) $($Errors.CategoryInfo.TargetType) $($Errors.Exception.Message)" |Add-Content $Path\errorlog.txt -Encoding UTF8
}

You can also do this and you will get all Informations about the Error

answered Mar 17, 2017 at 13:17

Mister Smith

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Minkus · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-15 10:40:56Z

1

Similar to @tomasr, but shorter:

$($error[0])

For all errors in a script:

$($error)

answered Dec 15, 2020 at 10:40

Minkus

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