# Handling errors

**URL:** <https://forums.powershell.org/t/handling-errors/2860>\
**Category:** PowerShell Help\
**Created:** [July 21, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/handling-errors/2860 "2014-07-21T03:31:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vandrey-trindade](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/vandrey-trindade/32/198_2.png) [@vandrey-trindade](https://forums.powershell.org/u/vandrey-trindade)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/handling-errors/2860/1 "2014-07-21T03:31:56Z")

</div>

Hi,

I’m trying to learn how to handle errors on PowerShell.

I’ve tried to use the text inside the $error[0] variable to know what kind of error the command got.  
Something like this:

```
PS C:\> Get-ADUser vtulio
Get-ADUser : Não é possível localizar um objeto com identidade: 'vtulio' em:
'DC=axxiom1,DC=local'.
No linha:1 caractere:1
+ Get-ADUser vtulio
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (vtulio:ADUser) [Get-ADUser], AD
   IdentityNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Não é possível localizar um objeto com identidad
   e: 'vtulio' em: 'DC=axxiom1,DC=local'.,Microsoft.ActiveDirectory.Managemen
  t.Commands.GetADUser
```

So I’ve tried to use the “ObjectNotFound” like this:

```
if ($error[0] -like "*ObjectNotFound*"){Write-Host "Object not found"}
```

And it returned me nothing…

Now I’m using something like that:

```
$ErrorActionPreference = "SilentlyContinue"

Write-Host "The folders below doesn't have any user associated:"
$Names = Get-ChildItem \\server\users$ | select -Expand Name
Write-Host
foreach ($Name in $Names) {Get-ADUser $Name | Out-Null;if ($?){}else{Write-Host "$Name"}}
Write-Host
Write-Host
$ErrorActionPreference = "Continue"
```

Using the “$?” is the better way?  
This is something that I want and I really don’t understand on PowerShell.  
How to handle different errors? Even when the command is not found…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![donj](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/donj/32/137_2.png) [@donj](https://forums.powershell.org/u/donj)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/handling-errors/2860/2 "2014-07-21T03:34:25Z")

</div>

Have you read “The Big Book of PowerShell Error Handling,” on the Ebooks page under the Resources menu?

$? is not a good approach.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vandrey-trindade](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/vandrey-trindade/32/198_2.png) [@vandrey-trindade](https://forums.powershell.org/u/vandrey-trindade)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/handling-errors/2860/3 "2014-07-21T03:59:35Z")

</div>

Don Jones,

I will now =]  
Thanks!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vandrey-trindade](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/vandrey-trindade/32/198_2.png) [@vandrey-trindade](https://forums.powershell.org/u/vandrey-trindade)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/handling-errors/2860/4 "2014-07-24T05:32:21Z")

</div>

Hi, I’m reading the material you indicated to me =]

[EDITED]  
oh… just forget about it… “immediately” means right before the cmdlet you want to check… it’s not about time =/  
sorry… lost me in translation…

[OLD TEXT]  
On this part I felt lost:

“Just be aware that the value of this variable is reset after every statement. You must check its value immediately after the command you’re interested in, or it will be overwritten (probably to True). Figure 2.8 demonstrates this behavior. The first time $? is checked, it is set to False, because the Get-Item encountered an error. The second time $? was checked, it was set to True, because the previous command was successful; in this case, the previous command was “$?” from the first time the variable’s value was displayed.”

How can I see if the value has been restarted?

Tried this:

```
PS C:\> get-something
get-something : O termo 'get-something' não é reconhecido como nome de cmdlet,
função, arquivo de script ou programa operável. Verifique a grafia do nome ou,
se um caminho tiver sido incluído, veja se o caminho está correto e tente
novamente.
No linha:1 caractere:1
+ get-something
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (get-something:String) [], Comma
   ndNotFoundException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : CommandNotFoundException

PS C:\> $?
False
```

Then I’ve tried to do the same but waiting more than half an hour to do the “$?” check… And it returned “False” again. It wasn’t supposed to be “true” if it’s reseted?

Just trying to understand…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![donj](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/donj/32/137_2.png) [@donj](https://forums.powershell.org/u/donj)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 5:45am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/handling-errors/2860/5 "2014-07-24T05:45:58Z")

</div>

$? is _really_ a poor way to do error handling. You should instead use -ErrorAction and a Try/Catch block. Within the Catch block, you can check $\_ or $error[0] to see the error that happened.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vandrey-trindade](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/vandrey-trindade/32/198_2.png) [@vandrey-trindade](https://forums.powershell.org/u/vandrey-trindade)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/handling-errors/2860/6 "2014-07-24T23:17:36Z")

</div>

Don Jones,

Now that I’m reading the book I’ve noticed that…  
Great material that you guys are offering us.

Thanks one more time for helping who is starting on PowerShell =]

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dotnVo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@dotnVo](https://forums.powershell.org/u/dotnVo)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 8:47pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/handling-errors/2860/7 "2024-05-16T20:47:45Z")

</div>