Error logging patterns in PowerShell - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to catch errors using Try-Catch.

PowerShell

try {
    Get-Content 'file.txt' -ErrorAction Stop
} catch [[1]] {
    Write-Error $_.Exception.Message
}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

AException

BError

CErrorAction

DCatch

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'Error' instead of 'Exception' in catch block.

The catch block uses Exception to capture error details.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to write error messages to a log file.

PowerShell

try {
    Remove-Item 'data.csv' -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
    $_.Exception.Message | Out-File -FilePath [1] -Append
}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A'log.txt'

B'output.txt'

C'error.log'

D'data.csv'

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Logging errors to the wrong file name.

Errors are logged to 'error.log' file using Out-File with -Append.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the code to properly log errors with timestamps.

PowerShell

$timestamp = Get-Date -Format 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss'
try {
    Get-Item 'missing.file' -ErrorAction Stop
} catch {
    "$timestamp - Error: [1]" | Out-File -FilePath 'error.log' -Append
}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A$_.Exception.Message

B$_.Exception

C$_.Error.Message

D$_.Message

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using $_.Message which is undefined in this context.

The correct property to get the error message is Exception.Message.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to create a function that logs errors with severity and message.

PowerShell

function Log-Error {
    param($errorMessage)
    $logEntry = "Severity: [1] - Message: [2]"
    $logEntry | Out-File -FilePath 'error.log' -Append
}

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A'High'

B$errorMessage

C'Low'

D'Warning'

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using a variable instead of a string for severity.

The severity is set to 'High' and the message uses the parameter $errorMessage.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to log errors with timestamp, severity, and message in a script.

PowerShell

$time = Get-Date -Format 'HH:mm:ss'
$severity = [1]
$errorMsg = [2]
"[$time] Severity: $severity - Error: $errorMsg" | [3] -FilePath 'error.log' -Append

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

A'Medium'

B$_.Exception.Message

COut-File

D'Critical'

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using wrong cmdlet instead of Out-File.

Severity is set to 'Critical', error message is from Exception.Message, and Out-File writes to the log.