Powershell “private” scope seems not useful at all

Question

I've got the script below, from internet:

$private:a = 1
Function test  {
    "variable a contains $a"
    $a = 2
    "variable a contains $a"
}
test

It prints 2. No problem. If I delete "private", like below:

$a = 1
Function test  {
    "variable a contains $a"
    $a = 2
    "variable a contains $a"
}

Still it prints "2". Seems no difference. Could you provide an quick sample of how "private" scope affects the result?

Thanks.

Answer 1

<sup>Note:
* This answer explains why the OP's code behaves the way it does (and that it behaves as designed); additionally, it provides some general information about variable scopes in PowerShell.
* For an important real-world use of scope private, see PetSerAl's helpful answer.</sup>

Your first snippet prints:

variable a contains
variable a contains 2

Your second snippet prints:

variable a contains 1
variable a contains 2

In the first snippet, using scope private causes the parent (script) scope's a variable to be hidden from the child (function) scope, as designed, so the first output line shows that $a has no value
(an undefined variable has value $null, which evaluates to the empty string in a string context).

In the second snippet, by contrast, without the private scope modifier, variable a from the parent scope is visible to the child scope.

In PowerShell, functions execute in child scopes by default.

Therefore, in both snippets above, assigning to variable a inside the function implicitly creates a local a variable there, whose scope is limited to the enclosing function.

In other words:

• Assigning to $a in the function creates a function-local variable named $a, which then shadows (hides) the script-level $a variable (if it wasn't already hidden by having been declared as $private:a)
• On leaving the function, $a again has its original, script-level value.

---

Some general information about variable scopes in PowerShell:

• Unless a variable is explicitly hidden with scope private, descendant scopes can see that variable and read its value using the variable name without a scope qualifier (e.g., $a) or the need for Get-Variable -Scope.

  • Other scopes not only do not see the values of private variables by default, but fundamentally cannot refer to them, even with explicit cross-scope access using scope modifiers or Get-Variable -Scope.
    (In the same scope, however, you can use a scope modifier to refer to a private variable, but only if that scope modifier effectively targets that same scope, which is always true for $local:privateVarName, for instance).

• Assigning to an unqualified variable, however, implicitly creates a new variable in the current (local) scope, which can shadow a variable of the same name in an ancestral scope.

• To explicitly get / modify a variable in an ancestral scope, use Get-Variable / Set-Variable -Scope <n> <name>, where <n> represents the scope level, with 0 representing the current scope, 1 the parent scope, and so on.
  Note that Get-Variable returns a [System.Management.Automation.PSVariable] instance by default, so in order to get only the value, access its .Value property, or use the -ValueOnly switch, which only returns the value to begin with.

  • In functions and trap handlers, before creating a local copy of a variable, you can alternatively modify a variable in the most immediate ancestral scope where it is defined as follows:

    • ([ref] $var).Value = ...
    • (If and once a local variable by the same name is created, the above will modify only the local variable, however.)

  • Variables in the script scope and the global scope can also be accessed - and modified - by using the $script: and $global: scope modifiers; e.g., $script:a and $global:a.
    Note that $script: refers to the (immediately) enclosing script file's top-level scope.

• Declaring a variable with Set-Variable -Option AllScope allows it to be read and modified in any descendant scope without needing to qualify the name; to put it differently: only a single variable by that name exists then, which any scope can directly read and write using the unqualified variable name.

  • Without a separate -Scope parameter, -Option AllScope is applied to the variable in the current scope (e.g., the script scope at the script's top level, a function's local scope inside a function). Thus, to safely create a script-global variable that you can access unqualified for reading and writing, use Set-Variable -Scope Script -Option AllScope.

  • -Scope Global is distinct from -Option AllScope: while -Scope Global creates a globally accessible variable, reading it may, and modifying it does, require the $global: scope modifier. Also note that a global variable is session-global, so it persists even after the script that defined it has terminated.

  • By combining -Scope Global with -Option AllScope you effectively create a session-global singleton variable that can be read and written from any scope without qualifier; as stated, however, such a variable lives on even after your script exits.

Answer 2

Good software design means minimized coupling (among other things). Within Powershell, that includes using private ON EVERY VARIABLE YOU CAN. If you want to make a value available in some subsequently called module, pass that information EXPLICITLY. There should be a very good EXCEPTION reason for not doing this, because each time you rely on implicit knowledge (e.g. the kind that happens in Powershell when you don't use private variables), you increase the chance something will go unexpectedly wrong later (maybe months later when the software has a lot more code in it).

Answer 3

Private scope can be useful when writing a function that invokes a user-supplied callback. Consider this simple example:

filter Where-Name {
    param(
        [ScriptBlock]$Condition
    )
    $FirstName, $LastName = $_ -split ' '
    if(&$Condition $FirstName $LastName) {
        $_
    }
}

Then, if someone calls it like this:

$FirstName = 'First2'
'First1 Last1', 'First2 Last2', 'First3 Last3' |
  Where-Name {param($a, $b) $a -eq $FirstName}

they'll expect to see only the First2 Last2 row, but actually this will print all three rows. This is because of a collision on the $FirstName variable. To prevent such collisions, you can declare variables in Where-Name as private:

filter Where-Name {
    param(
        [ScriptBlock]$private:Condition
    )
    $private:FirstName, $private:LastName = $_ -split ' '
    if(&$Condition $FirstName $LastName) {
        $_
    }
}

Now $FirstName in Where-Name does not hide $FirstName in the outer scope when referenced from the $Condition script block.