about_Trap
Short description
Describes a keyword that handles a terminating error.
Long description
A terminating error stops a statement from running. If PowerShell doesn't handle a terminating error in some way, PowerShell also stops running the function or script in the current pipeline. In other languages, such as C#, terminating errors are known as exceptions.
The trap
keyword specifies a list of statements to run when a terminating
error occurs. trap
statements can handle the terminating errors in the
following ways:
Display the error after processing the
trap
statement block and continuing execution of the script or function containing thetrap
. This behavior is the default.Note
When the terminating error occurs in a subordinate script block, such as an
if
statement orforeach
loop, the statements in thetrap
block are run and execution continues at the next statement outside the subordinate script block.Display the error and abort execution of the script or function containing the
trap
usingbreak
in thetrap
statement.Silence the error, but continue execution of the script or function containing the
trap
by usingcontinue
in thetrap
statement.
The statement list of the trap
can include multiple conditions or function
calls. A trap
can write logs, test conditions, or even run another program.
Syntax
The trap
statement has the following syntax:
trap [[<error type>]] {<statement list>}
The trap
statement includes a list of statements to run when a terminating
error occurs. A trap
statement consists of the trap
keyword, optionally
followed by a type expression, and the statement block containing the list of
statements to run when an error is trapped. The type expression refines the
types of errors the trap
catches.
A script or command can have multiple trap
statements. trap
statements can
appear anywhere in the script or command.
Trapping all terminating errors
When a terminating error occurs that isn't handled in another way in a script
or command, PowerShell checks for a trap
statement that handles the error. If
a trap
statement is present, PowerShell continues running the script or
command in the trap
statement.
The following example is a minimal trap
statement:
trap { 'Error found.' }
This trap
statement traps any terminating error.
In the following example, the function includes a nonsense string that causes a runtime error.
function TrapTest {
trap { 'Error found.' }
nonsenseString
}
TrapTest
Running this function returns the following output:
Error found.
nonsenseString:
Line |
3 | nonsenseString
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| The term 'nonsenseString' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet,
function, script file, or executable program.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the
path is correct and try again.
The following example includes a trap
statement that displays the error by
using the $_
automatic variable:
function TrapTest {
trap { "Error found: $_" }
nonsenseString
}
TrapTest
Running this version of the function returns the following output:
Error found: The term 'nonsenseString' is not recognized as the name of a
cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. Check the spelling of
the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and
try again.
nonsenseString:
Line |
3 | nonsenseString
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| The term 'nonsenseString' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet,
function, script file, or executable program.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the
path is correct and try again.
Important
trap
statements may be defined anywhere within a given script block, but
always apply to all statements in that script block. At runtime, trap
statements in a block are defined before any other statements are executed.
In JavaScript, this is known as
hoisting. This means
that trap
statements apply to all statements in that block even if
execution hasn't advanced past the point at which they're defined. For
example, defining a trap
at the end of a script and throwing an error in
the first statement still triggers that trap
.
Trapping specific errors
A script or command can have multiple trap
statements. A trap
can be
defined to handle specific errors.
The following example is a trap
statement that traps the specific error
CommandNotFoundException:
trap [System.Management.Automation.CommandNotFoundException] {
'Command error trapped'
}
When a function or script encounters a string that doesn't match a known
command, this trap
statement displays the Command error trapped
string.
After running the trap
statement list, PowerShell writes the error object to
the error stream and then continues the script.
PowerShell uses .NET exception types. The following example specifies the System.Exception error type:
trap [System.Exception] { 'An error trapped' }
The CommandNotFoundException error type inherits from the System.Exception type. This statement traps any errors raised by unknown commands. It also traps other error types.
You can find the exception type for an error by inspecting the error object. The following example shows how to get the full name of the exception for the last error in a session:
nonsenseString
$Error[0].Exception.GetType().FullName
nonsenseString: The term 'nonsenseString' is not recognized as a name of a
cmdlet, function, script file, or executable program. Check the spelling
of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct
and try again.
System.Management.Automation.CommandNotFoundException
You can have more than one trap
statement in a script. Only one trap
statement can trap each error type. When a terminating error occurs, PowerShell
searches for the trap
with the most specific match, starting in the current
script block of execution.
The following script example contains an error. The script includes a general
trap
statement that traps any terminating error and a specific trap
statement that specifies the CommandNotFoundException type.
trap { 'Other terminating error trapped' }
trap [System.Management.Automation.CommandNotFoundException] {
'Command error trapped'
}
nonsenseString
Running this script produces the following result:
Command error trapped
nonsenseString:
Line |
5 | nonsenseString
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| The term 'nonsenseString' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet,
function, script file, or executable program.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the
path is correct and try again.
Because PowerShell doesn't recognize nonsenseString
as a cmdlet or other
item, it returns a CommandNotFoundException error. The specific trap
statement traps this terminating error.
The following script example contains the same trap
statements with a
different error:
trap { 'Other terminating error trapped' }
trap [System.Management.Automation.CommandNotFoundException] {
'Command error trapped'
}
1/$null
Running this script produces the following result:
Other terminating error trapped
RuntimeException:
Line |
5 | 1/$null
| ~~~~~~~
| Attempted to divide by zero.
The attempt to divide by zero doesn't create a CommandNotFoundException
error. The other trap
statement, which traps any terminating error, traps the
divide by zero error.
Trapping errors in a script block
By default, when a terminating error is thrown, execution transfers to the trap
statement. After the trap
block is run, control returns to the next statement
block after the location of the error.
For example, when a terminating error occurs in an foreach
statement, the
trap
statement is run and execution continues at the next statement after the
foreach
block, not within the foreach
block.
trap { 'An error occurred!'}
foreach ($x in 3..-1) {
"1/$x = "
"`t$(1/$x)"
}
'after loop'
1/3 =
0.333333333333333
1/2 =
0.5
1/1 =
1
1/0 =
An error occurred!
RuntimeException:
Line |
4 | "`t$(1/$x)"
| ~~~~
| Attempted to divide by zero.
after loop
In the output, you can see the loops continue until the last iteration. When
the script tries to divide 1 by 0, PowerShell throws a terminating error. The
script skips the rest of the foreach
script block, runs the try
statement,
and continues after the foreach
script block.
Trapping errors and scope
If a terminating error occurs in the same script block as the trap
statement,
PowerShell runs the list of statements defined by the trap
. Execution
continues at the statement after the error. If the trap
statement is in a
different script block from the error, execution continues at the next
statement that's in the same script block as the trap
statement.
For example, if an error occurs in a function, and the trap
statement is in
the function, the script continues at the next statement. The following script
contains an error and a trap
statement:
function function1 {
trap { 'An error: ' }
NonsenseString
'function1 was completed'
}
function1
Running this script produces the following result:
An error:
NonsenseString:
Line |
3 | NonsenseString
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| The term 'NonsenseString' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet,
function, script file, or executable program.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the
path is correct and try again.
function1 was completed
The trap
statement in the function traps the error. After displaying the
message, PowerShell resumes running the function. Notice that Function1
completed after the trap
statement.
Compare this behavior with the following example, which has the same error and
trap
statement. In this example, the trap
statement occurs outside the
function:
function function2 {
NonsenseString
'function2 was completed'
}
trap { 'An error:' }
function2
Running the Function2
function produces the following result:
An error:
NonsenseString:
Line |
2 | NonsenseString
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| The term 'NonsenseString' is not recognized as a name of a cmdlet,
function, script file, or executable program.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the
path is correct and try again.
In this example, the function2 was completed
command wasn't run. In both
examples, the terminating error occurs within the function. In this example,
however, the trap
statement is outside the function. PowerShell doesn't go
back into the function after the trap
statement runs.
Caution
When multiple traps are defined for the same error condition, the first trap
defined lexically (highest in the script block) is used.
In the following example, only the trap
with whoops 1
runs.
Remove-Item -ErrorAction Stop ThisFileDoesNotExist
trap { 'whoops 1'; continue }
trap { 'whoops 2'; continue }
Important
A trap
statement is scoped to where it compiles. If you have a trap
statement inside a function or dot sourced script, when the function or dot
sourced script exits, all trap
statements inside are removed.
Using the break and continue keywords
You can use the break
and continue
keywords in a trap
statement to
determine whether a script or command continues to run after a terminating
error.
If you include a break
statement in a trap
statement list, PowerShell stops
the function or script. The following sample function uses the break
keyword
in a trap
statement:
function break_example {
trap {
'Error trapped'
break
}
1/$null
'Function completed.'
}
break_example
Error trapped
ParentContainsErrorRecordException:
Line |
6 | 1/$null
| ~~~~~~~
| Attempted to divide by zero.
Because the trap
statement included the break
keyword, the function doesn't
continue to run, and the Function completed
line isn't run.
If you include a continue
keyword in a trap
statement, PowerShell resumes
after the statement that caused the error, just as it would without break
or
continue
. With the continue
keyword, however, PowerShell doesn't write an
error to the error stream.
The following sample function uses the continue
keyword in a trap
statement:
function ContinueExample {
trap {
'Error trapped'
continue
}
foreach ($x in 3..-1) {
"1/$x = "
"`t$(1/$x)"
}
'End of function'
}
ContinueExample
1/3 =
0.333333333333333
1/2 =
0.5
1/1 =
1
1/0 =
Error trapped
End of function
The function resumes after the error is trapped, and the End of function
statement runs. No error is written to the error stream.
Notes
trap
statements provide a way to ensure all terminating errors within a
script block are handled. For more finer-grained error handling, use
try
/catch
blocks where traps are defined using catch
statements. The
catch
statements only apply to the code inside the associated try
statement. For more information, see
about_Try_Catch_Finally.
See also
PowerShell