Parameters in PowerShell - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using Parameters in PowerShell Scripts

📖 Scenario: You are creating a PowerShell script to greet users by their name and optionally their age. This script will use parameters to accept input values when run.

🎯 Goal: Build a PowerShell script that uses parameters to accept a Name and an optional Age. The script will greet the user by name and mention their age if provided.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a parameter block with a mandatory Name parameter of type string

Add an optional Age parameter of type int with a default value

Use the parameters inside the script to print a greeting message

Print the greeting message showing the name and age if provided

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Scripts with parameters let users provide input values when running them, making scripts flexible and reusable for different situations.

💼 Career

Knowing how to use parameters is essential for automation tasks, system administration, and writing professional PowerShell scripts that others can use easily.

1

Create the Parameter Block with Name

Write a PowerShell script that defines a parameter block with a mandatory string parameter called Name.

PowerShell

# Define a parameter block with a mandatory string parameter called Name
param(
    # Your code here
)

Need a hint?

Use param() to define parameters. Mark Name as mandatory with [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)].

2

Add an Optional Age Parameter

Add an optional integer parameter called Age to the parameter block with a default value of 0.

PowerShell

param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
    [string]$Name,
    # Your code here
)

Need a hint?

Define Age as an integer with a default value by writing [int]$Age = 0.

3

Write the Greeting Message Using Parameters

Write code that creates a variable message which says "Hello, Name!" if Age is 0, or "Hello, Name! You are Age years old." if Age is greater than 0.

PowerShell

# Create a variable message with the greeting based on Age
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use an if statement to check if Age is greater than 0 and set message accordingly.

4

Print the Greeting Message

Write a line to print the message variable to the console.

PowerShell

# Print the message variable
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use Write-Output to print the message to the console.