Recently I came across an interesting quirk in PowerShell: exit codes from powershell.exe are inconsistent.<\/p>\n
As you may know there are two ways of launching PowerShell script: you can use -File or -Command parameter.<\/p>\n
powershell -File test.ps1\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\nor<\/p>\n
powershell -Command .\\test.ps1\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\n-Command could be ommitted:<\/p>\n
powershell .\\test.ps1\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\nNow let’s say you want to execute PowerShell script from a scheduled task or from continuous integration server. Naturally, you would be interested if the script fails or not.<\/p>\n
And here’s the bug: if you launch your script using -File parameter powershell.exe exits with zero code even if there was an exception.<\/p>\n
You can confirm this by creating a script that always throws an error:<\/p>\n
throw 'oops'\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\nNow if you launch it using -File parameter exit code is 0:<\/p>\n
powershell.exe -File testerror.ps1\r\necho Error level is %ERRORLEVEL%\r\n\r\noops\r\nAt C:\\testerror.ps1:1 char:6\r\n+ throw <<<< 'oops'\r\n + CategoryInfo : OperationStopped: (oops:String) [], RuntimeException\r\n + FullyQualifiedErrorId : oops\r\n\r\nError level is 0\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\nBut if you use -Command parameter exit code is set as expected:<\/p>\n
powershell.exe -Command .\\testerror.ps1\r\necho Error level is %ERRORLEVEL%\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\nChris Oldwood also came across<\/a> this bug:<\/p>\n\ndepending on whether I use the \u201c-File\u201d or \u201c-Command\u201d switch to execute the .ps1 script I get different behaviour. Is this a PowerShell bug or is there something fundamental about the execution model the differs between -File and -Command that I\u2019ve yet to understand?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Bonus<\/h2>\n
How to execute PowerShell script from NAnt script:<\/p>\n
<exec program=\"powershell.exe\" append=\"true\">\r\n <arg value=\"-noprofile\" \/>\r\n <arg value=\"&'C:\\your-script.ps1'\" \/>\r\n <arg value=\"param1\" \/>\r\n <arg value=\"'param 2 with spaces'\" \/>\r\n<\/exec>\r\n<\/code><\/pre>\nReferences<\/h2>\n\n- Windows PowerShell Exit Codes<\/a><\/li>\n
- Get Legacy Exit Codes in PowerShell<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recently I came across an interesting quirk in PowerShell: exit codes from powershell.exe are inconsistent. As you may know there are two ways of launching PowerShell script: you can use -File or -Command parameter. powershell -File test.ps1 or powershell -Command .\\test.ps1 -Command could be ommitted: powershell .\\test.ps1 Now let’s say you want to execute PowerShell … Continue reading PowerShell Exit Codes<\/span>