Setting Variable Before Out-Null While Suppressing Output PowerShell

Question

I am trying to suppress the output of a command while setting a variable. I need to do this because I have compiled the PowerShell Script using PS2EXE-GUI. This program shows all command output on a seperate window, which is very annoying and is not necessary. I am trying to use Get-ChildItem "$MYSQLFOLDERLOCATION" | Out-String | Write-Host, but this only works when there is nothing in the directory, anything else, and it shows the directory contents on the screen. I have also been trying to use Get-ChildItem "$MYSQLFOLDERLOCATION" | $ISMYSQLFOLDERPRESENT = $? | Out-Null, but this is syntactically incorrect. Is there something similar to this that I can use? I basically want to do an ls-equivalent command in PowerShell, then store whether it succeeded or not, while not showing anything on screen (I can't use Write-Output, Write-Host, etc.)

Sounds like you're looking for $IsMySqlFolderPresent = Test-Path $MYSQLFOLDERLOCATION -PathType Container? — Mathias R. Jessen
– Mathias R. Jessen, Commented Oct 21, 2020 at 16:54
Precisely! I'm new to PowerShell and never knew this existed :) If you would like to turn that into an answer, I will accept it. — Revvz
– Revvz, Commented Oct 21, 2020 at 16:57
Agreed, Get-Childitem is the wrong command here. And using Write-Host exacerbates the problem as it will always output to the console whatever else you do. Test-Path is the way. — PMental
– PMental, Commented Oct 21, 2020 at 16:59
I am coming from a non-Windows environment (Linux-type) and I always used ls, set variable, clear :) — Revvz
– Revvz, Commented Oct 21, 2020 at 16:59

Mathias R. Jessen · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-21 17:04:15Z

2

You need to assign the entire expression to a variable - otherwise any resulting output will "bubble up" to the caller and you'll see it on the screen:

$variable = Get-ChildItem .\path

For checking whether a folder exists in the file system or not, I'd suggest using Test-Path instead of Get-ChildItem:

$IsMySqlFolderPresent = Test-Path $MYSQLFOLDERLOCATION -PathType Container

$IsMySqlFolderPresent will now hold a boolean value ($true or $false) depending on whether a directory exists at the path specified by $MYSQLFOLDERLOCATION

answered Oct 21, 2020 at 17:04

Mathias R. Jessen

178k13 gold badges175 silver badges234 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Setting Variable Before Out-Null While Suppressing Output PowerShell

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related