Terminating vs non-terminating errors in PowerShell - Visual Side-by-Side Comparison

Concept Flow - Terminating vs non-terminating errors

Run Command

↓

Error Occurs?

No→Continue Execution

Yes↓

Is Error Terminating?

No→Show Error, Continue

Yes↓

Stop Execution Immediately

The script runs a command, checks if an error occurs, then decides if it stops or continues based on error type.

Execution Sample

PowerShell

Get-Item 'C:\NoSuchFile.txt'
Write-Output 'This runs after non-terminating error'

Get-Item 'C:\NoSuchFile.txt' -ErrorAction Stop
Write-Output 'This does NOT run after terminating error'

Shows a non-terminating error that allows script to continue, then a terminating error that stops the script.

Execution Table

Step	Command	Error Occurs?	Error Type	Action Taken	Output
1	Get-Item 'C:\NoSuchFile.txt'	Yes	Non-terminating	Show error, continue	Error message displayed
2	Write-Output 'This runs after non-terminating error'	No	N/A	Runs normally	This runs after non-terminating error
3	Get-Item 'C:\NoSuchFile.txt' -ErrorAction Stop	Yes	Terminating	Stop execution	Error message displayed
4	Write-Output 'This does NOT run after terminating error'	No	N/A	Does NOT run

💡 Execution stops at step 3 due to terminating error triggered by -ErrorAction Stop

Variable Tracker

Variable	Start	After Step 1	After Step 2	After Step 3	Final
ErrorState	null	Non-terminating error recorded	Cleared after output	Terminating error triggered	Script stopped

Key Moments - 3 Insights

Why does the script continue after the first Get-Item command even though an error occurs?

Because the error is non-terminating by default, PowerShell shows the error but continues running the next commands as shown in execution_table step 1 and 2.

What causes the script to stop after the second Get-Item command?

The -ErrorAction Stop parameter makes the error terminating, so PowerShell stops execution immediately as shown in execution_table step 3.

Does the Write-Output command after the terminating error run?

No, it does not run because the script stops at the terminating error, as shown in execution_table step 4 where output is empty.

Visual Quiz - 3 Questions

Look at the execution table, what type of error occurs at step 1?

A Non-terminating error

B Terminating error

C No error

D Syntax error

💡 Hint

Check the 'Error Type' column in execution_table row for step 1

At which step does the script stop running commands?

A Step 2

B Step 4

C Step 3

D Script never stops

💡 Hint

Look at the 'Action Taken' and 'Output' columns in execution_table for step 3 and 4

If the -ErrorAction Stop was removed from step 3, what would happen?

A Script would stop at step 3

B Script would continue to step 4

C No error would occur

D Script would crash

💡 Hint

Refer to how non-terminating errors behave in execution_table steps 1 and 2

Concept Snapshot

Terminating errors stop script immediately.
Non-terminating errors show message but continue.
Use -ErrorAction Stop to make errors terminating.
Default errors are non-terminating.
Check error type to control script flow.

Full Transcript

This lesson shows the difference between terminating and non-terminating errors in PowerShell. When a command causes a non-terminating error, PowerShell shows the error but keeps running the script. When a terminating error happens, PowerShell stops the script immediately. Using -ErrorAction Stop forces an error to be terminating. The example runs Get-Item on a missing file twice: first without stopping, then with stopping. The output and script flow change accordingly.