ErrorAction parameter in PowerShell - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is the purpose of the ErrorAction parameter in PowerShell?

The ErrorAction parameter controls how PowerShell responds to non-terminating errors during command execution. It lets you decide whether to continue, stop, silently ignore, or ask for user input when an error occurs.

beginner

Name the common values you can assign to the ErrorAction parameter.

Common values include:<br>- Continue: Show error and continue (default)<br>- Stop: Stop execution on error<br>- SilentlyContinue: Ignore error without message<br>- Inquire: Ask user what to do<br>- Ignore: Ignore error and don't add to error stream

beginner

How do you use ErrorAction to stop a script when a command fails?

Add -ErrorAction Stop to the command. This makes PowerShell treat non-terminating errors as terminating, so the script stops immediately on error.

beginner

What happens if you set ErrorAction to SilentlyContinue?

PowerShell ignores the error and does not display any message. The script continues running as if no error happened.

beginner

Give an example of a PowerShell command using ErrorAction to silently ignore errors.

Example:<br>Get-Item 'C:\nonexistentfile.txt' -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue<br>This command tries to get a file that doesn't exist but won't show an error message.

What does -ErrorAction Stop do in a PowerShell command?

A Asks the user what to do

B Ignores the error silently

C Continues and shows the error message

D Stops the script if an error occurs

-ErrorAction Stop makes PowerShell treat errors as terminating, stopping the script immediately.

Which ErrorAction value will NOT display any error message but continue running?

A SilentlyContinue

B Stop

C Continue

D Inquire

SilentlyContinue ignores errors without showing messages.

If you want PowerShell to ask you what to do when an error happens, which ErrorAction value should you use?

A Ignore

B Inquire

C Stop

D Continue

Inquire prompts the user to decide how to handle the error.

What is the default behavior of PowerShell when an error occurs and ErrorAction is not specified?

A Stop execution

B Silently ignore error

C Continue and show error message

D Ask user for input

By default, PowerShell continues running and shows the error message (Continue).

Which ErrorAction value completely ignores the error and does not add it to the error stream?

A Ignore

B SilentlyContinue

C Stop

D Continue

Ignore suppresses the error and does not add it to the error stream, unlike SilentlyContinue.

Explain how the ErrorAction parameter changes the way PowerShell handles errors in a script.

Think about how you want your script to behave when something goes wrong.

Describe a situation where using -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue would be helpful.

Imagine you check for a file that might not exist, but it’s okay if it doesn’t.