Note: This tip requires PowerShell 3.0 or above.
PowerShell lets you control how it responds to a non-terminating error (an error that does not stop the cmdlet processing) globally via the $ErrorActionPreference preference variable, or at a cmdlet level using the -ErrorAction parameter. Both ways support the following values:
Stop: Displays the error message and stops executing.
Inquire: Displays the error message and asks you whether you want to continue.
Continue: Displays the error message and continues (Default) executing.
SilentlyContinue: No effect. The error message is not displayed and execution continues without interruption.
No matter which value you choose, the error is written to the host and added to the $error variable. Starting with PowerShell 3.0, at a command level only (e.g ErrorAction), we have an additional value: Ignore. When Ignore is specified, the error is neither displayed not added to $error variable.
# check the error count PS> $error.Count 0 # use SilentlyContinue to ignore the error PS> Get-ChildItem NoSuchFile -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue # error is ignored but is added to the $error variable PS> $error.Count 1 PS> $error.Clear() # Using Ignore truly discards the error and the error is not added to $error variable PS> Get-ChildItem NoSuchFile -ErrorAction Ignore PS> $error.Count 0
