AlignAssignmentStatement

Severity Level: Warning

Description

This rule detects misaligned assignment operators in hashtables and enum definitions. Consecutive assignment statements are easier to read and maintain when their assignment operators align vertically.

This rule checks key-value pairs in hashtables and enum member definitions to ensure that the = signs line up. Use this rule to enforce consistent formatting in multiline hashtables and enum definitions.

The rule ignores assignments within hashtables and enums that appear on the same line as other assignments. For example, the rule ignores $h = @{ a = 1; b = 2 }.

Example

Noncompliant

$hashtable = @{
    property = 'value'
    anotherProperty = 'another value'
}

enum Enum {
    member = 1
    anotherMember = 2
}

Compliant

$hashtable = @{
    property        = 'value'
    anotherProperty = 'another value'
}

enum Enum {
    member        = 1
    anotherMember = 2
}

Configuration

Rules = @{
    PSAlignAssignmentStatement = @{
        Enable                                  = $true
        CheckHashtable                          = $true
        AlignHashtableKvpWithInterveningComment = $true
        CheckEnum                               = $true
        AlignEnumMemberWithInterveningComment   = $true
        IncludeValuelessEnumMembers             = $true
    }
}

Parameters

Enable

This parameter controls whether ScriptAnalyzer checks the code against this rule. It accepts a boolean value. To enable this rule, set this parameter to $true. The default value is $false.

CheckHashtable

This parameter controls whether ScriptAnalyzer checks assignment alignment in hashtables and Desired State Configuration (DSC) configurations. It accepts a boolean value. To disable this check, set this parameter to $false. The default value is $true.

AlignHashtableKvpWithInterveningComment

This parameter controls whether ScriptAnalyzer includes hashtable key-value pairs that contain an intervening comment when determining alignment. It accepts a boolean value. To exclude these lines, set this parameter to $false. The default value is $true.

Consider the following:

$hashtable = @{
    property = 'value'
    anotherProperty <#A Comment#> = 'another value'
    anotherDifferentProperty = 'yet another value'
}

With this setting disabled, the line with the comment is ignored. The equal signs are aligned for the remaining lines:

$hashtable = @{
    property                 = 'value'
    anotherProperty <#A Comment#> = 'another value'
    anotherDifferentProperty = 'yet another value'
}

With this setting enabled, the equal signs are aligned for all lines:

$hashtable = @{
    property                      = 'value'
    anotherProperty <#A Comment#> = 'another value'
    anotherDifferentProperty      = 'yet another value'
}

CheckEnum

This parameter controls whether ScriptAnalyzer checks assignment alignment in enum member definitions. It accepts a boolean value. To disable this check, set this parameter to $false. The default value is $true.

AlignEnumMemberWithInterveningComment

This parameter controls whether ScriptAnalyzer includes enum members that contain an intervening comment when determining alignment. It accepts a boolean value. To exclude these lines, set this parameter to $false. The default value is $true.

IncludeValuelessEnumMembers

This parameter controls whether ScriptAnalyzer includes enum members without explicitly assigned values when determining alignment. It accepts a boolean value. To exclude valueless members, set this parameter to $false. The default value is $true.

Consider the following:

enum Enum {
    member = 1
    anotherMember = 2
    anotherDifferentMember
}

With this setting disabled, the third line, which has no value, isn't considered when choosing where to align assignments.

enum Enum {
    member        = 1
    anotherMember = 2
    anotherDifferentMember
}

With it enabled, the valueless member is included in alignment as if it had a value:

enum Enum {
    member                 = 1
    anotherMember          = 2
    anotherDifferentMember
}