Using timers in Windows PowerShell

Question

I'm trying to figure out how to use a timer in Windows PowerShell. I want my script to run a command/task for a certain amount of time, stop the task, and then output the results to a txt file. Here is what I have so far:

$timer = [Diagnostics.Stopwatch]::StartNew()

while ($timer.elapsed.totalseconds -lt 10){

netstat 169.254.219.44 

$timer.stop() | 
Out-File $PSScriptroot\connections.txt

break
}

All the script does is run the command in the terminal until I press ctrl+c. Once I press ctrl+c it stops and then outputs the .txt file. But the .txt file is blank. I've spent way more time than I should've trying to figure this out. I'm new to Windows PowerShell and was just messing around to see what I could do. There's no real purpose for this script. It's just driving me nuts that I can't figure this out...

you are STOPPING the timer inside your while loop. that means your test will never trigger. [grin] — Lee_Dailey
– Lee_Dailey, Commented Feb 28, 2021 at 1:36

Daniel · Accepted Answer · 2021-02-28 02:47:02Z

7

Are you looking to have the test repeat continuously until the allowed time elapses? Whatever code is in your while {} block will repeat as long as the condition ($timer.elapsed.totalseconds -lt 10) is true. As Lee mentioned, don't stop the timer in your loop.

$timer = [Diagnostics.Stopwatch]::StartNew()
while ($timer.elapsed.totalseconds -lt 10) {
    # Code in here will repeat until 10 seconds has elapsed
    # If the netstat command does not finish before 10 seconds then this code will 
    # only run once

    # Maybe separate each netstat output in the file with date/time
    "*** " + (Get-Date) + " ***" | Out-File $PSScriptroot\connections.txt -Append
    netstat 169.254.219.44 | Out-File $PSScriptroot\connections.txt -Append
}

$timer.stop()

edited Feb 28, 2021 at 2:47

answered Feb 28, 2021 at 2:12

Daniel

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1 Comment

Jtaylor44t Over a year ago

Wow I can't believe I didn't notice that... Thank you for your answers. That helps a lot and it makes sense now. I just wanted it to run netstat for a set amount of time and show me the results in a .txt file. This should accomplish that now.

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