Write-Error
Writes an object to the error stream.
Syntax
Write-Error
[-Message] <string>
[-Category <ErrorCategory>]
[-ErrorId <string>]
[-TargetObject <Object>]
[-RecommendedAction <string>]
[-CategoryActivity <string>]
[-CategoryReason <string>]
[-CategoryTargetName <string>]
[-CategoryTargetType <string>]
[<CommonParameters>]
Write-Error
-Exception <Exception>
[-Message <string>]
[-Category <ErrorCategory>]
[-ErrorId <string>]
[-TargetObject <Object>]
[-RecommendedAction <string>]
[-CategoryActivity <string>]
[-CategoryReason <string>]
[-CategoryTargetName <string>]
[-CategoryTargetType <string>]
[<CommonParameters>]
Write-Error
-ErrorRecord <ErrorRecord>
[-RecommendedAction <string>]
[-CategoryActivity <string>]
[-CategoryReason <string>]
[-CategoryTargetName <string>]
[-CategoryTargetType <string>]
[<CommonParameters>]
Description
The Write-Error
cmdlet declares a non-terminating error. By default, errors are sent in the error
stream to the host program to be displayed, along with output.
To write a non-terminating error, enter an error message string, an ErrorRecord object, or an
Exception object. Use the other parameters of Write-Error
to populate the error record.
Non-terminating errors write an error to the error stream, but they don't stop command processing. If a non-terminating error is declared on one item in a collection of input items, the command continues to process the other items in the collection.
To declare a terminating error, use the Throw
keyword.
For more information, see about_Throw.
Examples
Example 1: Write an error for RegistryKey object
Get-ChildItem | ForEach-Object {
if ($_.GetType().ToString() -eq "Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey")
{
Write-Error "Invalid object" -ErrorId B1 -TargetObject $_
}
else
{
$_
}
}
This command declares a non-terminating error when the Get-ChildItem
cmdlet returns a
Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey
object, such as the objects in the HKLM:
or HKCU:
drives of the
PowerShell Registry provider.
Example 2: Write an error message to the console
Write-Error "Access denied."
This command declares a non-terminating error and writes an "Access denied" error. The command uses the Message parameter to specify the message, but omits the optional Message parameter name.
Example 3: Write an error to the console and specify the category
Write-Error -Message "Error: Too many input values." -Category InvalidArgument
This command declares a non-terminating error and specifies an error category.
Example 4: Write an error using an Exception object
$E = [System.Exception]@{Source="Get-ParameterNames.ps1";HelpLink="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113425"}
Write-Error -Exception $E -Message "Files not found. The $Files location doesn't contain any XML files."
This command uses an Exception object to declare a non-terminating error.
The first command uses a hash table to create the System.Exception object. It saves the
exception object in the $E
variable. You can use a hash table to create any object of a type that
has a null constructor.
The second command uses the Write-Error
cmdlet to declare a non-terminating error. The value of
the Exception parameter is the Exception object in the $E
variable.
Parameters
-Category
Specifies the category of the error. The default value is NotSpecified. The acceptable values for this parameter are:
- NotSpecified
- OpenError
- CloseError
- DeviceError
- DeadlockDetected
- InvalidArgument
- InvalidData
- InvalidOperation
- InvalidResult
- InvalidType
- MetadataError
- NotImplemented
- NotInstalled
- ObjectNotFound
- OperationStopped
- OperationTimeout
- SyntaxError
- ParserError
- PermissionDenied
- ResourceBusy
- ResourceExists
- ResourceUnavailable
- ReadError
- WriteError
- FromStdErr
- SecurityError
- ProtocolError
- ConnectionError
- AuthenticationError
- LimitsExceeded
- QuotaExceeded
- NotEnabled
For information about the error categories, see ErrorCategory Enumeration.
Type: | ErrorCategory |
Accepted values: | NotSpecified, OpenError, CloseError, DeviceError, DeadlockDetected, InvalidArgument, InvalidData, InvalidOperation, InvalidResult, InvalidType, MetadataError, NotImplemented, NotInstalled, ObjectNotFound, OperationStopped, OperationTimeout, SyntaxError, ParserError, PermissionDenied, ResourceBusy, ResourceExists, ResourceUnavailable, ReadError, WriteError, FromStdErr, SecurityError, ProtocolError, ConnectionError, AuthenticationError, LimitsExceeded, QuotaExceeded, NotEnabled |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | NotSpecified |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-CategoryActivity
Specifies the action that caused the error.
Type: | String |
Aliases: | Activity |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-CategoryReason
Specifies how or why the activity caused the error.
Type: | String |
Aliases: | Reason |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-CategoryTargetName
Specifies the name of the object that was being processed when the error occurred.
Type: | String |
Aliases: | TargetName |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-CategoryTargetType
Specifies the type of the object that was being processed when the error occurred.
Type: | String |
Aliases: | TargetType |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-ErrorId
Specifies an ID string to identify the error. The string should be unique to the error.
Type: | String |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-ErrorRecord
Specifies an error record object that represents the error. Use the properties of the object to describe the error.
To create an error record object, use the New-Object
cmdlet or get an error record object from the
array in the $Error
automatic variable.
Type: | ErrorRecord |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | True |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Exception
Specifies an exception object that represents the error. Use the properties of the object to describe the error.
To create an exception object, use a hash table or use the New-Object
cmdlet.
Type: | Exception |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | True |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-Message
Specifies the message text of the error. If the text includes spaces or special characters, enclose
it in quotation marks. You can also pipe a message string to Write-Error
.
Type: | String |
Aliases: | Msg |
Position: | 0 |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | True |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-RecommendedAction
Specifies the action that the user should take to resolve or prevent the error.
Type: | String |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
-TargetObject
Specifies the object that was being processed when the error occurred. Enter the object, a variable that contains the object, or a command that gets the object.
Type: | Object |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Required: | False |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
You can pipe a string that contains an error message to this cmdlet.
Outputs
None
This cmdlet returns no output. It only writes to the error message stream.
Notes
Write-Error
doesn't change the value of the $?
automatic variable, therefore it doesn't signal a
terminating error condition. To signal a terminating error, use the
$PSCmdlet.WriteError() method.
Related Links
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