I wrote a powershell script to compare the content of two folders:
$Dir1 ="d:\TEMP\Dir1"
$Dir2 ="d:\TEMP\Dir2"
function Test-Diff($Dir1, $Dir2) {
$fileList1 = Get-ChildItem $Dir1 -Recurse | Where-Object {!$_.PsIsContainer} | Get-Item | Sort-Object -Property Name
$fileList2 = Get-ChildItem $Dir2 -Recurse | Where-Object {!$_.PsIsContainer} | Get-Item | Sort-Object -Property Name
if($fileList1.Count -ne $fileList2.Count) {
Write-Host "Following files are different:"
Compare-Object -ReferenceObject $fileList1 -DifferenceObject $fileList2 -Property Name -PassThru | Format-Table FullName
return $false
}
return $true
}
$i = Test-Diff $Dir1 $Dir2
if($i) {
Write-Output "Test OK"
} else {
Write-Host "Test FAILED" -BackgroundColor Red
}
If I set a break point on Compare-Object
, and I run this command in console, I get the list of differences. If I run the whole script, I don't get any output. Why?
I'm working in PowerGUI Script Editor, but I tried the normal ps console too.
EDIT:
The problem is the check on the end of the script.
$i = Test-Diff $Dir1 $Dir2
if($i) {
Write-Output "Test OK"
...
If I call Test-Diff
without $i =
check, it works!
Test-Diff
returns with an array of objects and not with an expected bool value:
[DBG]: PS D:\>> $i | ForEach-Object { $_.GetType() } | Format-Table -Property Name
Name
----
FormatStartData
GroupStartData
FormatEntryData
GroupEndData
FormatEndData
Boolean
If I comment out the line with Compare-Object
, the return value is a boolean value, as expected.
The question is: why?
I have modified the bit of your script, to make it run the way you want it. I'm not exactly sure you would want to compare files only by the .Count property though, but its not within the scope of this question. If that wasn't what you were looking after, please comment and I'll try to edit this answer. Basically from what I understand you wanted to run a condition check after the function, while it can be easily implemented inside the function.
If there is anything unclear, let me know
AlexP
I've found the answer here: http://martinzugec.blogspot.hu/2008/08/returning-values-from-fuctions-in.html
Functions like this:
uses a PowerShell way of returning objects: @(0,1,"a","b") and not @("a","b")
To make this function work as expected, you will need to redirect output to null:
In our case, the function has to be refactored as suggested by Koliat.