PowerShell Script does not generate an error, but is not working correctly

Question

I just want to write a basic PowerShell script which compares two numbers. When I call my script via .\Compare-Numbers.ps1 -a 3 -b 3 nothing happens.

function Compare-Numbers {

    param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$True, HelpMessage="Please enter two numbers")]
    [int]$a, 
    [int]$b
    )

    try {
        if($a -eq $b) {
            Write-Host "the given numbers are equal"
            return (exit 0)
        }
        else {
            Write-Host "the given numbers are not equal"
            return (exit 1)
        }
    }
    catch {
        throw "an error occured!"
        exit $LASTEXITCODE
    }
}

I would expect that the write-host command writes the text in my command prompt, but - nothing happens.

The main reason is you're setting the function, you'd need to the call the function compare-numbers though i'd be interested as to know why your code isn't correctly working - when I'm running it it's refusing to ask for $b for me and I'm unsure why. — Matthew
– Matthew, Commented Oct 15, 2019 at 10:08
The return (exit 1) will throw an error because exit is not known. Replace throw "an error occured!" with throw $_ to see the error. — Patrick
– Patrick, Commented Oct 15, 2019 at 10:54

Mark Harwood · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-15 09:49:33Z

4

I think you're a little confused. You created a function and saved it to a file. If you run the file, PowerShell will say:

yep, function loaded, nothing else to do, bye!

If you plan to run this from a file, you will need to change your approach a little. This article perfectly describes your current situation and issue.

This is what your script would end up looking like:

Param($intOne = 5,
$intTwo = 3
)
Function add-numbers
{
Param($intOne,
$intTwo
)
$intOne + $intTwo
} #end function add-numbers
# *** entry point to script ***
add-numbers -intOne $intOne -inttwo $intTwo

answered Oct 15, 2019 at 9:49

Mark Harwood

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1 Comment

Luciore95 Over a year ago

thank you really much, the artivel was exactly what i needed and now my script does what it should do

Matthew · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-17 10:28:38Z

1

A Bit of a late reply but I was interested in your code and wanted to correct the value prompting:

function Number-comparison {

    param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$True, HelpMessage="text")][int]$a1,
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$True, HelpMessage="text")][int]$b1

    )

If we use the above it will prompt the user correctly.

answered Oct 17, 2019 at 10:28

Matthew

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